Curbside Citywide?

Chicago Lakefront Alderman Joe Moore has proposed that the Windy City adopt a citywide curbside recycling program, according to a recent report in the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper.

The implementation of such a program could cost the city $35 million, the paper says. The proposed curbside pickups would replace the city's blue-bag recycling program, which has generated a 13 percent participation rate and recycled 8 percent of the collected waste, the Sun-Times reports.

For nine months, the city has experimented with curbside recycling in a Chicago neighborhood, garnering an 80 percent participation rate; however, Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Michael Picardi says that there is “no revenue source” to expand the pilot program, the Sun-Times says.

If the proposal is approved, the city would have until January 2009 to implement the curbside recycling program.