Official Recycling thread (Chicago, Westmont, Lincoln: apartment complexes, condo, neighborhood)

[Avengerfire]

For those of you interested in making this city,state,country, and world a better place this is the thread for you!

[Avengerfire]

The Blue Bag program is a waste of time.It does not work and is being phased out. If you want to recycle, the city has new blue carts in many areas that are next to your regular garbage cans. The city has collection points as well and some non-profits have collection points that I use in addition to the city sources. If you do not mind packing up the car and bringing your stuff up to one of those, it is preferable to the blue bag or even the blue cart system. You know if you drop this stuff off it will be recycled.

City sites:
Pershing Road 1424 W. 39th Street
Near South 1758 S. Clark
Calumet Park Beach 9801 S. Avenue G
Auburn Gresham 7811 S. Racine
Household Products & Electronics Collection & Training Center 1150 N. North Branch
Chicago Center for Green Technology 445 N. Sacramento
North Lawndale 1817 S. Pulaski
West Pullman 11615 S. Indiana
Pasteur Park 5825 S. Kostner
Marquette Park 6734 S. Kedzie
Riis Park 6110 W. Fullerton
Portage Park Neighborhood 4243 N. Neenah
Kosciuszko Park 2732 N. Avers
Rainbow Park 3111 E. 77th Street
Far North Side 6441 N. Ravenswood

City/non profit partnership:
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
2430 N. Cannon Drive

Non-profits:

North Park Village
5801 North Pulaski Road
Chicago, Illinois 60646
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily.
Accepts: aluminum and steel cans; brown, clear, and green bottles and jars; newspaper.

Uptown Recycling Station
4716 North Sheridan Road
Chicago, Illinois 60640
(773) 821-1351
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.. Closed Wednesday, Sunday, and holidays.
Accepts: aluminum and steel cans; brown, clear, and green bottles and jars; newspaper.

Wrightwood Neighbors Recycling
2600 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60614
(773) 821-1351
7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. daily.
Accepts: aluminum and steel cans; brown, clear, and green glass bottles and jars; newspaper.
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Also remember you can recycle household batteries at all Chicago Public Libraries and Walgreens stores.

City of Chicago

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Chemicals and electronics:
Drop-off your Household Chemical & Computers
You can take your household chemicals and computers year-round to the Household Chemicals & Computer Recycling Facility at 1150 N. North Branch (two blocks east of the Kennedy Expressway at Division Street).
Hours: Tuesdays 7am-noon, Thursdays 2pm-7pm and the first Saturday of every month 8am-3pm
Accepted items include:
Chemicals, oil-based paints, cleaners, solvents, computers, cell phones and flourescent light bulbs
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Great resource for recycling in Chicago:

Chicago Recycling Coalition - Home

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[Avengerfire]

Special announcements:


Bike re(Cycle) Chicago

"Bring your used bikes to Chase's West Lakeview branch at 3335 N. Ashland
on Saturday, May 3 and Sunday, May 4 between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. All donated bikes will go to Working Bikes Cooperative, a volunteer-run organization dedicated to recycling bikes, supporting biking in Chicago and helping local and international projects in need of bikes."

Click the link for more info.

City of Chicago

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Dispose of Hazardous Household waste,Unwanted Medications,and Electronics:
Saturday, April 19,2008
DeVry University, 3300 N. Campbell Ave.
8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

"Residents can drop-off their: hazardous household chemicals & paints; computers, cell phones, fax machines, scanners and keyboards; old or unused prescription and non-prescription medications; old gas can and/or gas-powered lawn mowers.
Residents can pick up their: $30 compost bin (available by check or money order only, for City of Chicago residents only, limit 1 per household), $40 rain barrel (available by check or money order only, for City of Chicago residents only, limit 1 per household), 1 free compact fluorescent lightbulb, 1 free environmentally-friendly gas can (when you trade in a new one), and $100 rebate towards an electric or push mower (when you drop-off your old gas-powered mower). All products are available while supplies last and limit 1 per household.
This event is sponsored by the City of Chicago, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The event will be held rain or shine."

City of Chicago
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Don’t Flush! Drive Unwanted Medicines from Your Home!:
Saturday,April 26, 2008
From 8 am to 3 pm IEPA/City of Chicago/Alliance for the Great Lakes
Lyman Welch (312-939-0838 x. 230)
1150 N. North Branch St. (Goose Island)
Chicago IL
At the event, anyone can bring (at no charge) unused or expired prescription and non-prescription drugs including inhalers and mercury thermometers for collection for proper disposal.

Clearinghouse of Collection Events | Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge | US EPA (http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/earthday2008/events.html#IL - broken link)
Alliance for the Great Lakes
EPA's Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge

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Clean up your community!
Clean and Green: Saturday, May 17, 2008
City of Chicago
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Help clean up Montrose Beach!
April 19, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Chicago Group of the Sierra Club
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Chicago Earth Day Celebration

"Whole Foods will be on site sampling products from Burt's Bess as well as products from local Chicago vendors...
The Chicago Department of Environment will give away FREE compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) while supplies last..."
Check out the info...
City of Chicago

[Avengerfire]

Chicagos new Department of Environment

http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/w...meEnumValue=05

[Sailaway50]

I will confess. I lived in a vintage mid rise and two high rises and neither recycled. So, I didn't either.

My new buiding does, provides the bags, etc., places to put them (labeled, mind you) in the trash chute "room."

I CANNOT BELIEVE the amount of trash we produce, not to mention the amount on my floor alone. Only "non recyclable" (whatever that is) goes into the chute. The little recycling "room" is OVERFLOWING on my floor twice a day, and I'd say half the units are 2nd apartments and the people rarely here.

We have, in our small way, become more conservative re trash just from seeing the stuff everyone, ourselves included, produces.

Has anyone seen the info regarding the California electronic waste problem? They call it "closet computers." These are computers, printers, etc., that are obsolete or broken which people just threw into a closet instead of throwing out. It said that if each Californian disposed of his or her "closet computers (including printers, etc.) at once, it would create a problem on National Emergency level.

I feel guilty I used disposable diapers. For my children.

There's one resident who has been dumping his or her waste from the document shredder LOOSE into the chute, so on every floor it blows up and out of the chute door when you even inch it open.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Sailaway50

...The little recycling "room" is OVERFLOWING on my floor twice a day, and I'd say half the units are 2nd apartments and the people rarely here.
...

Your recycling hauler must pick up every day then. It seems people are doing their part, but your condo association,landlord,or waste hauler is not.

[Sailaway50]

Since I'm a renter, I'm not involved in the condo assoc., but at least we are finally recycling. I'm just amazed at the amount of trash my floor alone produces, and this is a 600 plus unit building. It's nuts. It makes me sad that so many resources are wasted on packaging, so many things are disposed of. The amount of plastic alone,
considering the oil situation, is astonishing.

A friend of mine said to me that we are going to have to go back to "the old ways" (re-use, no waste, economize more) as individuals. I totally agree with this.

The kids are not educated in the schools. We re'use bottles for drinks for lunches, etc...the kids are so wasteful in the schools. Just the amount of food thrown away at lunches, let alone the packaging. This education process has to start for us in this country

I could probably become a firebrand if I had the time...

We use public transportation almost exclusively, cabs when needed. These ridiculous SUV's, etc., with one person in them on the Drive every morning as I take my daughter to school. Shameful, really. It's going to bite us (another thread perhaps?)..

[chet everett]

Very little crude oil is diverted from the production of gasoline into plastics. Most plastic bags start out as natural gas. It is still good to recycle, from a landfill persecptive and generally "keep the community clean", but you really need not worry about it putting pressure on oil/gasoline.

Most schools have been some kind of Earthday thing for 20+ years. Generally teachers are better about recycling than the average...

[aragx6]

One Earthday a year is hardly going to solve all the problems. I'm not sure I'd agree that teachers are better than the average person, though I did read once that more women than men recycle (This was a few years back, so this could have changed) and there are more women teachers (esp. elementary and middle school ones) than men.

I just found out today that Westmont has an ordinance requiring all apartment complexes to have recycling. Mine doesn't so I'm going to go over there this weekend and talk to them about it.

[Sailaway50]

Originally Posted by aragx6

One Earthday a year is hardly going to solve all the problems. I'm not sure I'd agree that teachers are better than the average person, though I did read once that more women than men recycle (This was a few years back, so this could have changed) and there are more women teachers (esp. elementary and middle school ones) than men.

I just found out today that Westmont has an ordinance requiring all apartment complexes to have recycling. Mine doesn't so I'm going to go over there this weekend and talk to them about it.

Glad to hear it. We all have to do something.....