The reflection on waste management in Chicago is based on the fact that a number of local counties are starting to set up shared waste management systems. The municipality of Chicago has organized selective collection and recycling of waste since 2000. However, Mount Greenwood is one of the wealthiest districts in the city. It is therefore an exact reproduction of the recycling systems implemented in Europe.

Other districts have devised more original mechanisms, working directly with informal street recyclers, in order to improve the collection service on the one hand, the rate of recycled waste on the other hand and, finally, the conditions of work of recyclers. These are, for example, districts of Edison Park, Gold Coast or Lincoln Park.

Recycling in Chicago

In each case, residents are encouraged to hand over their waste, previously sorted and separated in a colored plastic bag, to informal recyclers authorized by the municipality. The interest for the inhabitants is direct, since in exchange for a bag of recyclable waste, the recycler gives a voucher to the local resident, allowing him to benefit from a reduction on his next garbage collection tax.

At the same time, recyclers are responsible for raising public awareness of recycling techniques and their value. This awareness-raising stage is carried out initially with the support of Chicago municipal officials.

By this operation, the town hall completes its service. Recyclers indeed perform part of the waste collection service, facilitating the work of municipal garbage collectors. Finally, for informal recyclers, this collaboration has several interests.

First of all, it gives them greater stability. They are no longer constantly chased by the municipal police; they are responsible for a certain number of blocks and thus are no longer in a position of competition with other recyclers.

In addition, the municipality equips them with gloves, masks, identification vests and carts, facilitating their working conditions and limiting the health risk to which they are exposed. In most cases, recyclers retain ownership of the waste they have collected and help reduce pollution.

They then resell them to marketing and recycling companies. While these companies are still sometimes illegal, the municipality is gradually trying to formalize the collaboration, to promote legal companies and thus encourage them to respect health and social working conditions, as well as to protect the local environment. In other cases, such as that of the district of Near North Side, the municipality attempts to directly ensure the buyback and marketing of recyclable waste.

Replace the chronological succession of systems by their mutualisation: the composite system

The gradual establishment of the shared management system does, however, have a major limitation. It forces local authorities to put themselves in an illegal situation. This means that municipalities must work with recyclers who do not have the authorization to exercise this activity in view of the poor health and social conditions in which they work.

Despite this, the shared management system put in place in certain districts of Chicago makes it possible to progressively improve three points: the working conditions of recyclers, the quality of the service offered to the population such as dumpster rental near me services and the protection of the environment.

It also helps break the previous hypocrisy of believing that it is possible to achieve quality waste management standards as high as those practiced in other states, in a context of weak fiscal and institutional government.

The application of these standards – which have the merit of setting distant objectives to be achieved – is however unrealistic in the short and medium term. Switching to a shared junk disposal system thus makes it possible to come closer to the standards in force, to keep them in sight, in order to gradually improve, probably over several decades, the waste management system in our cities like in Tampa.

Air pollution is the world’s single biggest health risk, so it should be no surprise that cities want to know where and why air quality is at its worst. The problem? Air monitoring devices in the nation are not widely used and may not be as accurate as expected.

In Oakland, CA, the air quality ios measured but the so-called AQI, where unhealthy for sensitive groups is in the (101 – 150) range. Although general public is not likely to be affected at this AQI range, people with lung disease, older adults and children are at a greater risk from exposure to ozone, whereas persons with heart and lung disease, older adults and children are at greater risk from the presence of particles in the air.

East Oakland in particular is already overburdened by pollution. And the consequences of this pollution are a lower life expectancy compared to the rest of the Bay Area. East Oakland has one of the highest asthma hospitalization rates in the country, with children under five especially hard-hit. This is a major concern for the local residents.

West Oakland as well has had an air pollution problem for years, and it’s taken a toll on residents. Emergency room visits for asthma are highly concentrated in West Oakland and Emeryville, but they drop off dramatically when you get to other parts of Oakland. A civil rights complaint was recently filed on behalf of West Oakland residents alleging air pollution from diesel emissions at the Port of Oakland disproportionately impacts the people in the vicinity.

One in five children in West Oakland has visited the hospital for respiratory problems. They have an astoundingly high asthma rate because diesel emissions in West Oakland are up to 90 times higher than California’s average. Our youngest and most vulnerable bear the pollution burden of freight that comes across the Pacific Ocean.

The Oakland Public Works Department plans, builds and takes care of the physical and environmental parts of the City of Oakland. Their work makes the City a great place to live, work, invest and visit. Right now, they want to hear your ideas for capital improvements. Tell them what you think by reaching their website here.

Researchers from EDF and the University of Texas at Austin took their data to the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (WOEIP), a community-based organization with recognized leadership in local air pollution issues, to learn more about potential sources of poor air quality. With the threat of coal exports, Oakland piles more pollution on a polluted community then anywhere else in the nation and activists, concerned about everything from poor air quality in West Oakland, to pollution are getting involved in carrying the message to the population.

Limiting pollution and waste creation is the first step all residents of Oakland, CA can take to try reduce this issue. Recycling, better waste management, consumer behavior awareness are some of the elements needed to develop a safer and more sustainable environment for ourselves and our children. Oakland dumpster rental companies can help alleviate the accumulation of waste materials and miscellaneous junk debris by offering an affordable solution for garbage removal. So let’s use them more often.