$10 Recycling Fee Proposed
Laborers Union Local 1001 suggests imposing a monthly recycling fee of $10 on 600,000 Chicago households with city garbage pickups. They say this will raise a total of $72 million, which is enough to bankroll the citywide switch to curbside recycling.
Mayor Daley wants to privatize curbside recycling to help erase a record $654.7 million shortfall without raising taxes or fees. However, the mayor has acknowledged the savings generated by a private recycling contractor would not be enough to expand recycling beyond the 241,000 households that already have the service. That leaves still 359,000 households that must bring their recyclables to drop-off boxes. This is an inconvenience that many homeowners are not willing to endure.
Lou Phillips, business manager of Laborers Local 1001, has what he calls a "better idea" that would save union jobs: a $10 monthly recycling fee to impose on the 600,000 households with city garbage pickups.
"People pay all over for garbage collection and recycling. Arlington Heights has a fee that just went up 3.5 percent. It's something the city has never done before, but something the city has to look at," said Phillips.
On Monday, Laborers Union 1001 proposed the idea of a $10-a-month user fee. Alderman Tom Allen refused to "open or close the door" on the proposal.
"We need to test the waters to see whether people feel strongly enough about participating in recycling that they'd be willing to pay a monthly fee," Allen said.
Other cities have imposed similar charges, but according to the president of the Chicago Recycling Coalition Mike Nowak, a $10 monthly recycling fee should not be "unreasonable". "People are gonna think that's a lot of money. I don't see how this could get through at this point....It's gonna be a very difficult thing to pass," he said.
Posted by Shane Alan Andersen
