An important step in recycling

Tight budgets, cuts in social services, rising property taxes and road congestion are a few critical issues on a list that seems endless and overwhelming.

With no shortage of vexing problems facing local governments and taxpayers these days, it’s easy to push some to the back burner.

With landfill space dwindling, the question of what will we do with our garbage shouldn’t be one of them.

We’re intrigued by the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County’s unique plan for an initiative to have food scraps — the largest single waste contributor — collected and recycled. SWALCO wants to pick a test community this year to lay the groundwork for a broader program in the future. We hope there will be plenty of competition to be selected.

Food scrap collection for composting is a cornerstone of SWALCO’s goal to slash landfill deposits by a third by 2020.

“I think attacking the food scraps will be one of the most effective ways of reaching those goals,” Executive Director Walter Willis told the Daily Herald’s Mick Zawislak.

Willis estimates food scraps make up as much as 13 percent of what goes to landfills. That’s no surprise, considering the average American throws away about 20 pounds of food each month.

Conserving landfill space is environmentally sound, keeps garbage disposal rates fairly stable and reduces heat-trapping methane, a greenhouse gas.

But there’s also a practical consideration — local landfills are filling up, and when they close, it will cost more to truck garbage farther away.

Countryside Landfill in Grayslake, for example, is expected to reach capacity in 10 years, and the Zion Landfill has about eight years of capacity, officials said.

Food scrap collection is in its infancy in the Chicago area. There have been some inroads among commercial entities, but residential programs are virtually nonexistent.

The practice is taking place on a small scale in a Grayslake neighborhood called Prairie Crossing and at Great Lakes Naval Station.

Oak Park is ready to begin a voluntary test program for 1,300 homes on one landscape waste route. For $12 a month, participants get a 96-gallon cart for organic materials, including yard waste and food scraps.

Lake County’s test program will provide answers about cost and logistical issues for a larger scale effort. It will be important for waste haulers and large producers, such as restaurants and grocery stores, to join.

Until then, there are steps we all can take now. Learn about the issue. Be diligent about recycling. Generate less food waste, and use a garbage disposal to grind up scraps.

Doing so is important, because the closed landfills that tomorrow will bring — and the accompanying problems — are closer than you think.