Welcome to this month’s newsletter from the Illinois Recycling Association (IRA) and Illinois Recycling Foundation (IRF). We’re dedicated to keeping you informed on the latest sustainability efforts, upcoming events, and ways you can get involved in promoting responsible recycling in Illinois.

Here's a gentle reminder that there's still time to renew IRF membership for calendar 2025! Current members looking to renew online will need to log into the website with their existing account. If you have trouble logging in, please call 708-847-0827 or email info@illinoisrecycles.org.

In 1956, Homewood Disposal (then called Homewood Scavenger) was a one-truck operation founded by Chicago native Wendell (Wendy) E. Yonker, who picked up garbage from residents in Homewood, Illinois. A man of faith, Wendy built his business around a set of core values–Community, Service, Family and Stewardship. These values are not only part of the company’s history, but an integral part of how Homewood Disposal operates each day. The history of Homewood Disposal is closely tied to the south suburbs of Chicago and NW Indiana. Homewood kept the local neighborhoods clean for decades and continue that tradition today.

A History of Serving Chicagoland and NW Indiana

The Beginning—1956

With a fleet of just three trucks, Homewood picked up garbage from residents in the Homewood and Flossmoor, Illinois areas. Their first office was tucked behind a men’s clothing store on Dixie Highway in Homewood, Illinois.

Move to East Hazel Crest—1970s

With a growing fleet and staff, Homewood moved their operations to a bigger space a few blocks away in East Hazel Crest, Illinois.

East Hazel Crest Transfer Station Built—1980s

Now serving many rapidly growing communities, it became necessary for Homewood to operate their own transfer station. Once completed, it allowed them to empty their trucks at their own facility.

Join us for the 2025 IRF Conference, in partnership with ILCSWMA and SWANA.

📅 Dates: Tuesday, October 14, 2025, and Wednesday, October 15, 2025

📍 Location: East Peoria, Illinois



Stay tuned for more details and opportunities to participate in this exciting event!

Join us for the 2025 Illinois Consumer Electronic Recycling Act Workshop

📅 Date: Monday, February 10, 2025, 1:00-4:00pm CST

📍 Location: Online, via Zoom

The CERA workshop, organized by the Illinois Recycling Foundation (IRF) with generous sponsorship from the National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER), is designed to provide valuable insights and practical guidance for stakeholders in the recycling and waste management ecosystem. This event is tailored for a diverse audience, including counties, municipalities, electronics recyclers, scrappers, and haulers. Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of the CERA program and explore how it can be leveraged to enhance their operations, improve sustainability efforts, and achieve financial or logistical benefits. The workshop promises to be a collaborative platform, facilitating the exchange of ideas and best practices while fostering partnerships that drive impactful change in the recycling industry.

Hello and Happy New Year! As you can see from our jam-packed first edition here, IRF has big plans for 2025! First up will be our virtual CERA Workshop on February 10. If you play a role (or could play a role) in implementing our state extended producer responsibility program for electronics in Illinois, please come! Registration will open soon. We're also ramping up planning with ILCSWMA and SWANA for a truly epic joint conference in the fall. In the meantime, the Board is also planning interim web events and tours to keep you, our members, engaged and to keep the information flowing on new initiatives like Recycle Coach and the Large Facilities law, covered in this issue.

If you value these activities but have not yet renewed your IRF membership for 2025, please do so ASAP! We don't want to have to hunt you down (in a friendly and very non-threatening way of course), but we will! My sincere thanks, of course, to all our members who have renewed, and especially the Benefactors highlighted below. We couldn't do it without you!

Recycling Program Coordinators in Northeast Illinois have been working hand in hand with the Customer Success team at Recycle Coach to input local program information and launch the web tool and app for their communities. Recycle Coach is now available in the City of Chicago, the communities served by the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC), the communities served by the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County (SWALCO), and for the communities of Kane County. Several other jurisdictions are in the process of on-boarding and IRF member Ecology Action Center beat us all to the punch by implementing Recycle Coach for Bloomington-Normal a few years ago.

The new mobile and smartphone app, available at no cost to local governments thanks to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) advises residents on waste and recycling schedules and proper waste management to decrease contamination at material recovery facilities, increase the diversion of materials from landfills, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

At the announcement of Recycle Coach for Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson said, “Easier access to information on how and where to recycle is one of our key strategies to increase recycling and waste diversion participation in Chicago. Thanks to a significant partnership with the IEPA, the new Recycle Coach app brings these answers to city residents’ fingertips through a simplified, yet comprehensive resource bringing us one step closer to achieving our climate action goals.” See the full City of Chicago press release here.

Like what you see about progress with Recycle Coach? Want to be part of the action? Recycle Coach is hiring a Customer Success Manager for Illinois. Hurry, because the posting closes January 27.

Across Illinois, large event facilities for sports events, concerts and performing arts that can accommodate at least 3,500 must provide recycling and food waste compost containers (where facilities exist for compost). Several Directors and members of IRF have a keen interest in implementation of this law. There will be more from us on this soon!

Meanwhile, Oregon's right-to-repair law for consumer electronics went into effect on January 1, requiring replacement parts and technical manuals to be made available to consumers and to third party repair businesses. Meanwhile, neighboring Washington State's new law will require businesses that generate more than four cubic yards of organic waste per week to either separate and procure organics hauling service or to compost the waste on site.

Starting January 2, 2025, the City of Elgin began a new partnership with Lakeshore Recycling Services (LRS) as its official waste and recycling provider. This collaboration aims to enhance the quality of waste collection and recycling services offered to residents in Elgin. One change is that in the spring, all residents served through the contract will receive a third cart for seasonal collection of mixed landscape waste and food scrap organics. Organics carts can be mutually beneficial to haulers and residents, as they streamline hauler operations and generally allow residents to dispose of more organic waste at less cost. An organics cart has more capacity than two standard paper yard waste bags filled to the brim. Under the past program structure, Elgin residents would need to buy a waste sticker for each bag of yard waste. LRS is dedicated to delivering service that is not only timely and reliable but also emphasizes sustainability, ensuring that waste is managed in an environmentally responsible manner. 

Kane County is poised to help launch four large-scale composting initiatives aimed at reducing food waste within the community, with the help of a federal grant. “This is an exciting step forward for Kane County,” said Clair Ryan, Kane County Recycling Coordinator. “Expanding composting programs allows us to make a significant impact in reducing our reliance on landfills and greenhouse gas emissions, which is a major component of Kane County’s Climate Action Implementation Plan.”

(Ed. note: Hey, that's my quote!)

The City of Kalamazoo this month is joining the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE); The Recycling Partnership; and Saskatchewan-based Canadian cleantech startup Prairie Robotics to launch a contamination reduction campaign. The campaign uses high-tech cameras, global positioning systems, and computers on City recycling trucks to check the contents of curbside recycling carts and tailor constructive feedback as needed, household by household. This approach is an alternative to manual cart inspection and tagging, which has been trialed by a few communities here in Illinois.

The Arlington, Virginia-based Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) says a federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) decision to approve the use of glass containers for mixed drink-type alcoholic beverages in single-serving (12-ounce and similar) sizes provides glass with access to a new market.

The change could result in the presence of more glass in municipal curbside recycling bins and in mixes of recyclables collected from restaurants and taverns. GPI runs a “Don’t Trash Glass” program designed to help restaurant and tavern managers have access to glass recycling service. The Don't Trash Glass effort is active in Chicago.

“This decision marks a pivotal moment for consumers, the glass packaging industry and the broader spirits market,” says Scott DeFife, president of GPI of the regulatory change that takes effect this Jan. 10. “The TTB’s decision to modernize older regulations that had previously limited packaging options for certain spirits-based products acknowledges the importance of innovation, consumer choice and environmental sustainability,” continues DeFife. “It ensures a level playing field for all packaging materials. This ruling will allow domestic glass manufacturers to serve this growing market.”



With Illinois having extended its "cocktails to-go" law through August 2028, restaurants and bars can now consider offering to-go cocktails in glass packaging, which may appeal to consumers seeking a more premium experience. However, this change also presents challenges, as Illinois will need to ensure its recycling infrastructure can handle an increase in glass waste effectively, leveraging glass's recyclability to minimize environmental impact. Additionally, consumers must remain mindful of Illinois's open container laws when transporting these beverages. Overall, the TTB's regulation could enhance opportunities for Illinois's hospitality sector while requiring careful attention to sustainability and compliance.

Thank You to our 2025 Benefactors!

Consider adding your logo here next to Helping Hands, Fortune Metals and Strategic Materials Inc. Become a 2025 BENEFACTOR for $2000.

If you have already joined and would like to upgrade to this status, send an email to executivedirector@illinoisrecycles.org

The Ink-Stained Path to Sustainability

In the realm of environmental initiatives, the Illinois Recycling Foundation (IRF) has found an unlikely hero: the printer cartridge. Our updated total income from participation in the Planet Green Recycle program this year is $651.00. Want to participate? Just follow the steps bellow and use Program ID #32599

“Recycling starts with us, but it never ends. It goes through an eternal cycle of transformation, renewing hope for our planet.” - Anonymous

Illinois Recycling Foundation / Illinois Recycling Association,

PO Box 411, Geneva IL 60134

708-847-0827

info@illinoisrecycles.org