Chicago Recycling Round-Up (Hint: It’s Not Good)

My experience recycling in Chicago has not been easy, and I have written about it every step of the way.

Just getting a blue cart for our building was a challenge. I mean, it took 79 days, and numerous follow ups for it to arrive on our curb.

bluecart3

But once the blue cart arrived, it was not smooth sailing.

For a while, I was placated by the multiple notes I noticed taped to the carts, to serve as a reminder that they are for recycling only. I was comforted that someone cared enough to write the note but also annoyed that they were necessary in the first place.

After that, the city-wide recycling drop-off centers began to be phased out and the City released a video showing why plastic grocery bags do not go into your blue cart (Spoiler Alert: It seriously messes up the machinery.)

Goodbye my dear friend

A few months went by without too much excitement, but that must have been the calm before the storm. Our maintenance has had trouble understanding how recycling works, making it even more frustrating, thus why so many blog posts were necessary.

Caught our recyclables being moved from the blue cart to the trash cart

Hopefully, now that we are nearing the anniversary of the beginning of this struggle, I the next year should be less eventful.

I promise to keep you updated.

2 comments

It blows my mind that we’re not a place yet where recycling is a no-brainer. My husband and I were just looking to move, and one of the apartment complexes we looked at didn’t offer a recycling bin, just trash, and suggested we take our recycling to the recycling center across town. The majority of what we would “throw away” is recyclable! I’m so happy people like you are out there promoting change and doing something about it when it so clearly is not an easy process.

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