City Of Highwood First In State To Approve Year-Round Organic Waste Collection Program
HIGHWOOD, IL (MAY 2017) - The City of Highwood is proud to be the first municipality in Illinois to approve year-round collection of food scraps and yard waste for residents as part of its three-cart garbage collection program starting May 3, 2017.
The year-round organics contract with Lakeshore Recycling Systems was approved by Highwood City Council on September 24, 2015. By diverting organic material away from landfills to composting sites, the implementation of this initiative is leading the way in helping Lake County and Highwood achieve its goal of 60 percent recycling and composting rate by 2020.
Highwood Mayor, Charlie Pecaro will officially announce the program as part of a leaders press conference at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, May 10 at Lake Bluff Compost Facility (640 Rockland Road, Lake Bluff, IL 60044) during International Compost Awareness week (May 7-13, 2017). This event is made possible by the joint efforts of neighboring Lake Bluff, Groot Industries, Inc., Lakeshore Recycling Systems, DK Organics and Solid Waste Agency of Lake County.
"The Highwood City Council shared city staff's vision that our community should be a leader and an example of environmental sustainability for the county and the state," said Adrian Marquez, Assistant to the City Manager, City of Highwood. "The goal is to reduce waste but more importantly reduce our collection rates to provide a financial relief to our residents who are seeing increasing costs."
Highwood residents will be receiving a smaller 35-gallon organic waste cart this week and will now be able to mix food scraps with yard waste for collection at the curb throughout the year. The benefits of using compost will maintain high quality soil, reduce the use of fertilizer and pesticides, improve water quality and protect the environment.
The following is a list of acceptable items for the organic waste collection program: yard waste (grass clippings, garden vegetation, leaves and brush); food scraps, including meat, bread, fruits, vegetables, table scraps, dairy, coffee grounds and coffee filters, tea bags, egg shells, cereal, grains and pasta; and unsoiled or food soiled paper products, such as paper towels, paper bags, pizza boxes, napkins, paper cups and newspapers.
The following items are NOT compostable: plastic bags or plastic packaging, pet waste, sanitary products, diapers, glass, metal, Styrofoam, liquids, grease or oil.
Additional information regarding the new organic waste collection program can be found at www.cityofhighwood.com/lakeshoreresi. City of Highwood administrative offices are located at 17 Highwood Avenue, Highwood, Illinois 60040, tel: 847.432.1924.