Building debris recycling ordinance OK’d in Grayslake

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Garbage trucks dump trash at a Veolia Environmental Services landfill site in Zion. | Sun-Times Media file

Updated: March 15, 2012 8:02AM

Grayslake officials are fulfilling their recent pledge to the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County to increase waste recycling to the 60 percent level by adopting an ordinance that requires the recycling of construction and demolition debris — waste that often is dumped in landfills.

Grayslake is one of the first Lake County communities to mandate recycling of construction debris.

The law sets thresholds and specific requirements based up SWALCQ’s recent 60-percent recycling goal. The new rules would pertain to any new structures, or renovations larger than 2,000 square feet; any demolition of any size; and any residential or commercial project containing four or more individual units.

The ordinance, approved at last week’s Village Board meeting, also stipulates that at least 75 percent of a project’s construction and demolition debris must be recycled. Staff officials indicated that the ordinance would not add significant cost to projects. If contractors can demonstrate that costs of the combined waste-hauling, recycling services would cost more than 10 percent of the hauling-only charge, then the recycling requirement could be waived.

The board also passed an ordinance authorizing Village Manager Mike Ellis to negotiate a contract amendment with Waste Management to offer residents an opportunity to upgrade their 65-gallon recycling bins to a 96-gallon bin at no additional charge. The current annual upgrade program is only for garbage cans. It is hoped that as residents use the larger container, they will recycle more and dispose of less.

In return, the village will grant a request by Waste Management to modify its annual leaf-vacuuming program by requiring residents to place leaves seven feet from the curb in order to improve pick-up efficiency.

Mayor Rhett Taylor said Grayslake has always been an advocate for recycling.

“This construction and demolition debris-recycling program would continue the village’s previous recycling initiatives,” Taylor told the Board in presenting the ordinance.

He pointed out some of the initiatives taken by the Village over the past two decades: It was one of the first communities in the county to offer curb-side residential recycling services, one of the first to initiate public drop-off recycling centers, one of the first to offer pilot downtown commercial recycling programs, and a leader in developing design standards for non-residential and multi-family recycling programs.