Every two weeks tons of garbage is collected on the North Shore. Photography by Joel Lerner
Hard working garbage collector.
With spring-cleaning season upon us, we wanted to know the details about trash collection in the suburbs. Using data provided by several North Shore administrations, we calculated the annual per capita totals of household waste disposal. We also looked at recycling and yard waste data.
Winnetka residents are at the top of the heap when it comes to annual per capita household waste disposal on the North Shore, but the 808 pounds of garbage collected per person each year is somewhat skewed because the residential refuse total provided by the village contained some commercial refuse as well, said Winnetka Public Works Analyst Dan Lee.
Lake Forest residents throw out 702 pounds of household waste per person annually. Highland Park residents, meanwhile, toss out 459 pounds of household trash per person — the least amount compared to the other suburbs we evaluated.
Here’s how seven North Shore communities handle garbage, recycling and yard waste; information comes from public works officials from each community and reflects 2014 totals.
Wilmette
Population: 27,363
Total household waste: 8,762 tons
Pounds per person: 664
Who picks it up: Advanced Disposal Systems
Where it goes: Glenview Transfer Station (Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County) before eventually being transported to Winnebago landfill.
Total recycling: 4,151.60 tons
Pounds per person: 303 pounds
Who picks it up: Advanced Disposal
Where it goes: Transfer station in Northbrook (owned by Advanced Disposal). Eventually transported to Waste Management processing center in Chicago and Grayslake.
What is it recycled into? Paper materials purchased by overseas customers, cardboard materials reused in new cardboard products or converted in other packing materials, paper mulch products or grass seed products, aluminum reused in new aluminum products, glass reused as road bed materials.
Yard waste: 580 tons
Who picks it up: Advanced Disposal
Where does it go: DK Organics in Lake Bluff — where it is processed and retailed as mulch or compost.
Electronics: 15,673 pounds collected
Electronic dumping: SWANCC members can take items to permanent drop-off sites (Glenview Transfer Station, Hoffman Estates Village Hall, Mount Prospect Public Works or Winnetka Public Works).
Wilmette does not offer junk pickup days. Residents are allowed to place out an unlimited amount of refuse material for collection, with the exception of construction debris, limited to one cubic yard per week.
Glenview
Population: 45,417
Total household waste: 11,183 tons
Pounds per person: 492
Who picks it up: Groot Industries
Where it goes: SWANCC’s Glenview Transfer Station, and to then various landfills
Total recycling: More than 5,000 tons
Pounds per person: 220
Who picks it up: Groot
Where it goes: Glenview Transfer Station
Yard waste: 1,600 tons
Who picks it up: Groot Industries
Electronic dumping: Designated bins for cell phones, ink cartridges, hearing aids and other like items are available at City Hall during weekday business hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Glenview also has a “First Friday Recycling” program every month when residents can head to Village Hall to drop off items, including batteries, old thermostats and thermometers — even retired American flags and old medications.
Lake Forest
Population: 19,352
Total household waste: 6,789 tons
Pounds per person: 702
All refuse, recycling and yard waste is collected by Lake Forest city crews.
Household refuse: Household refuse is taken to Advanced Disposal Services Landfill in Zion.
Recycling: 3,211 tons collected
Pounds per person: 331
Recycled goods are taken to Lake Forest’s Compost Center and re-loaded into transfer trailers. The trailers are transported to Resource Management in Chicago Ridge, where the material is separated and sold to other businesses worldwide.
Yard waste: 2,229 tons. Once it’s collected, yard waste is taken to the city’s Compost Center on Route 60 and processed on-site.
Electronic dumping: Lake Forest’s Compost Center is a drop-off site that is open on weekends and to Lake Forest residents with a valid city sticker on their vehicle. Residents can drop off refuse (junk), yard waste, recyclables, metal, and electronics. They can also pick up compost and wood chips.
Residents can also take metal and electronics Midwest Computer Recycling in Lake Bluff.
Other programs: Household chemical waste is collected via SWALCO, which holds a collection event at Lake Forest Municipal Services Building every September.
Winnetka
Population: 12,422
Total household waste: 5,020 tons
Pounds per person: 808 pounds
Who picks it up: Winnetka Village Public Works
Where it goes: SWANCC transfer station. SWANCC then takes the refuse to landfill.
Residential recycling: 2,868 tons
Pounds per person: 461
Who picks it up: Groot
Where it goes: Recycling is taken to the Groot facility, which runs its own sorting plant that separates recyclable items. Winnetka’s facility also has a drop-off center for several items (styrofoam, batteries, small electronics and more) that are taken to various outside locations for recycling.
Yard waste: 11,772 cubic yards
Who picks it up: Winnetka Village Public Works
Where it goes: Yard waste is brought to an onsite transfer station at the Village’s Municipal Yards facility then picked up by an outside contractor (Thelen), which composts the material.
Electronics: 138,874 pounds collected
Electronic dumping: Winnetka Municipal Yards Facility has various bins/containers set up in the building entrance. Residents may bring small items during standard working hours and the Public Works Department collects them and coordinates with various groups. Larger electronics, such as televisions or computers may be dropped off on Thursdays, 1:00 – 3:00 pm, when an outside contractor (Com2) is available to pick up and recycle the items.
Northbrook
Population: 33,600
Total waste: 9,413 tons
Trash per person: 560 pounds
Who picks it up: Advanced Disposal
Where it goes: Northbrook Transfer Station and then transferred to Advanced Disposal’s landfill in Zion.
Recycling: 4,200 tons
Pounds per person: 250
Who picks it up: Advanced Disposal
Where it goes: Recycling is also taken to the Northbrook Transfer Station and is then sent to Waste Management Recycling in Grayslake or CID in Chicago.
Yard waste: 574 tons
Who picks it up: Advanced Disposal
Where it goes: Yard waste is taken directly to DK Organics in Lake Bluff, where it is turned into compost, which is resold to landscapers or to the public through retail outlets.
Electronic dumping: The village has a “First Tuesday Recycling” program allowing residents to drop off any old electronics on this date each month.
Lake Bluff
Population: 5,706
Total household waste: 1,400 tons
Pounds per person: 490
Who picks it up: Groot Industries
Where it goes: About 95 percent goes to Waste Management’s Countryside Landfill in Grayslake; the remainder goes to Veolia landfill in Zion, owned by Advanced Waste.
Total recycling waste: 1,024 tons
Pounds per person: 358
Who picks it up: Groot
Where it goes: The Waste Management transfer facility in Grayslake.
Yard waste:
Who picks it up: DK Organics, Lake Bluff
Where it goes: Some of it is processed at the recycling center at Lake Bluff’s Public Works department, while the rest is taken to a transfer station on Route 41 before making it to a North Chicago processing plant.
Electronic dumping: The E-waste program was discontinued due to funding, said Public Works Superintendent Jake Terlap, but residents can take old computers and other electronics to Midwest Computer Recycling in Lake Bluff, at 101 Skokie Valley Road, Lake Bluff.
Other programs: This spring Lake Bluff started a textiles recycling program and placed a collection bin at its Public Works recycling center.
And Lake Bluff’s next semi-annual collection — also known as “Junk Day” — takes place during the first two weeks of May, giving residents an opportunity to dispose of large items not picked up as part of the normal refuse collection program at no additional charge.
Highland Park
Population: 29,902
Total household waste: 6,868 tons
Pounds per person: 459
Who picks it up: The city has two franchise waste hauling agreements, one with Advanced Disposal, which hauls residential and municipal waste, and the other with Waste Management, which hauls commercial and multi-family waste. Each contractor hauls the waste to its own transfer station, where crews sort if necessary. The waste is then taken to a landfill.
Recycling: 4,500 tons
Pounds per person: 300
Recycling is picked up by Advanced Disposal and Waste Management and then transferred to recycling facilities.
Yard Scraps: Landscape waste is transferred to an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency-permitted landscape waste composting facility.
Electronic dumping: Highland Park works with the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County to provide a drop-off site at 1180 Half Day Road that is open every Tuesday and the first Saturday of each month.
— Emily Spectre and Adrienne Fawcett contributed to this report.
