Chicago’s New Recycling Crackdown is Underway

Owners of larger Chicago apartment buildings would be on the hook to provide separate recycling bins for tenants under a plan backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel that's gaining steam.

The move is an effort to bring buildings with more than four units into line with the separate recycling bins already in use in the alleys behind single-family homes and smaller buildings around the city. Bigger buildings contract with private garbage haulers and would need to do the same for recycling under the plan that will head to the full City Council on Wednesday.

The plan comes with hefty fines for noncompliance, starting at $500 to $1,000 for a first offense, and increasing to up to $5,000 for a third offense within a year. Each day a building is in violation could be counted as a separate offense. That caused alarm among some realty associations, with officials testifying Monday that their members could get hit with huge costs they would then be forced to pass on to renters.