Kane County recycles 43% of its trash

Kane County is approaching a major green milestone, and a new law might push the county over the mark this year.

A new report shows curbside recycling in the county led to more than 43 percent of all waste in the county being recycled, mulched or composted in 2011. In years past, that garbage would have sat in a landfill. The report, shared with the county board's Energy and Environmental Committee Wednesday, contains statistics indicating recycling in the county will continue to increase in 2012.

The classic elements of recycling — paper and yard waste — are strong in the county. About 280 million pounds of paper and cardboard were recycled from homes and businesses last year. Nearly 46 million pounds of yard waste was composted or mulched. But electronics recycling is where all the attention is in 2012.

A new law made it so residents and businesses can no longer put old computers, televisions and other electronics in the trash. Not only must electronics be recycled, but every electronics manufacturer is assigned a recycling goal based on sales volume. The manufacturers must then contract with local recycling companies to hit that goal. In turn, the recycling companies contract with collectors, such as Kane County, to actually obtain the material to recycle.

Last year, the county recycled about 848,000 pounds of electronic equipment. That's actually a drop from the more than 1 million pounds recycling in 2010. But the new law already seems to be reversing that dip, Kane County's Recycling Coordinator Jennifer Jarland said.

The county has a monthly electronics recycling event at the circuit court clerk's office on Randall Road in St. Charles. From January to June, the event already saw 400,000 pounds of electronics recycled, plus another 100,000 pounds recycled at the Batavia drop-off location.

“It's all in large part due to the landfill ban,” Jarland said. “People are learning all electronics have to be recycled now. Waste haulers won't take them.”

The county will add electronics drop-off locations in Geneva and St. Charles soon to meet the increasing demand.

Not everything thrown away stays that way. The county is working with companies to resell books people bring to recycle as well as refurbish laptop computers that are reusable.

The report estimates the overall recycling efforts of Kane County residents saved the equivalent of 70,000 trees each year while eliminating the need for more new landfills.