Aldermen blasted Mayor Richard M. Daley today for halting expansion of Chicago's blue cart recycling program, but may not be able to overcome budget concerns that have stalled the effort.
At a joint meeting of City Council's environmental and transportation committees, Alderman Tom Allen proposed bringing the blue cart program to all households by Sept. 1.
Currently, city trucks empty blue recycling bins at 241,000 of 600,000 homes that receive city garbage service.
The remaining households either use recycling drop-off sites or don’t recycle at all.
Daley rolled out the blue cart program – replacing the notoriously ineffective blue bags – in 2008. But the Mayor has stopped expansion because of the city’s budget woes.
Allen says recycling is a core function of city government – like police or street sweeping.
“This is a basic service and it’s a disaster that it’s not being handed out in an even manner,” he says. “Name one other city service that’s applied piecemeal.”
Each of the dozen aldermen flowing in and out of the meeting voiced their support for expanding the blue carts. But no one offered a specific funding plan.
“If you read between the lines, they were a lot of ‘yes, buts’ today,” says Mike Nowak, president of the Chicago Recycling Coalition, who testified at the meeting in favor of Allen’s order.
Allen wants to explore whether recycling can be supported through Tax Increment Financing funds.
But he says he won't unveil any funding strategy until meeting with Thomas Byrne, commissioner of Streets & Sanitation.
“I would suggest that we hold this matter until we get a meeting public with Commissioner Byrne,” Allen says.