Recycling task force ups the ante in Lake County
Options and requirements for recycling could expand in the not-too-distant future as Lake County officials look to cut the amount of trash going to landfills.
Collecting food scraps, targeting specific materials such as carpeting, and even enacting mandatory ordinances if volunteer efforts don’t work, are among 36 recommendations by a task force charged with finding ways to significantly boost recycling.
A final plan likely has a long path to approval, but the yearlong effort has produced comprehensive suggestions for residential and commercial users as well as for construction and demolition debris.
“I would say it’s a substantial landmark,” said Walter Willis, executive director of the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County, which guided the effort. The 27-member task force included citizens, waste haulers, recyclers and composters, elected officials and others.
The intent was to increase the amount of material recycled in Lake County from 39 percent to 60 percent by 2020.
But as the work progressed, it became apparent it would be easier to measure how much less trash was being dumped than how much more materials were being recycled.
“I see it right now as a goal we’d like to reach,” said Round Lake Park Mayor Jean McCue, a task force member. “It’ll be the education, getting the word out to people realizing what they can do.” Every person in Lake County generates about 4.8 pounds of garbage per day, Willis said. The goal is to incrementally reduce that to 3.5 pounds by 2020.
“We now throw away about 60 percent,” Willis said. “We’re trying to drive that down to 40 percent.”
The primary goal of increasing recycling is to reduce the amount of garbage dumped in the county’s two landfills and extend their lives. The task force didn’t estimate how much longer landfills would last as a result of the programs but it will be measured each year to gauge the impact.
Willis also noted that about 40 percent of what is accepted by landfills here is from outside Lake County, where programs such as those being suggested may not have been implemented.
Steps needed to reach the recycling goals are likely to create debate, although education will be a key factor.
“We need to get further along in our behavior here,” Willis said. “Part of it is getting past the barrier of people thinking of waste as waste instead of a resource.”
One way to do that is to make recycling more convenient — bigger carts for recycling and smaller ones for garbage could be made available to more people, he said. Recycling would have to be available to everyone, including commercial businesses, by 2013, according to the recommendations.
Everybody with garbage service also should have some type of “pay as you throw” option to ween people from unlimited trash disposal for a set fee, Willis added.
In 2012, the county should establish pilot residential and commercial food scrap collection programs, according to the recommendations. Food scraps account for about 12 percent of garbage volume, Willis said.
“It’s a huge number. That’s the next frontier, if you will,” Willis said. Collection could become mandatory in 10 years if goals aren’t met, according to the recommendations.
Expanding multifamily recycling is another target.
The task force determined recycling eventually should be mandatory for residential and commercial/institutional users if efforts fall short — suggestions that could face push back among the 41 SWALCO members.
“How are we going to make that mandatory?” McCue asked.
The next step is to develop a strategy on how the report will be approved or accepted by individual SWALCO communities and others and how to deal with suggested changes.
“I expect to be going to a lot of meetings this fall and winter,” Willis said.
The county board must also approve the recommendations.
“It’s always better to get people to buy in and understand than get heavy-handed on top,” said Ann Maine, a task force member and president of the Lake County Forest Preserve District board. “Part of it is clearly education.”