Chicago to crack down on recycling violations

The declaration follows complaints from apartment dwellers of their buildings failing to recycle.

 

“In order to help enforce the already existing ordinance and give these residents the ability to recycle in high-rise and commercial buildings, Chicago needed to update the ordinance,” Jennifer Martinez, a spokesperson for the Chicago Dept. Streets and Sanitation (DSS), told the Chicago Sun-Times.

 

The updated ordinance would specify the responsibility of property owners to establish separate, single-stream recycling for their multiunit residential, office and commercial buildings, the article says. Proper signage to inform residents would be required, as well as adequately available carts and written notices to inform tenants of the change. 

 

DSS will enforce the ordinance. Violators will be subjected to increasing fines, with $500 to $1,000 for the first offense, $1,000 to $2,500 for the second and $2,500 to $5,000 for the third and any subsequent violations within 12 months of the most recent violation.