Posted on 09/23/2005 10:17:25 AM PDT by Thebaddog
Illinois’ Governor Rod Blagojevich has announced close to $800,000 in Opportunity Returns grant money to a number of companies and organizations to boost recycling in the Chicagoland area. The grant money is administered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
The Opportunity Returns grants follow Gov. Blagojevich’s signing a legislative initiative aimed at the problem of disposing of electronic equipment. Last month, Gov. Blagojevich signed House Bill 1149 into law, which amends the Illinois Environmental Protection Act by creating the Computer Equipment Disposal and Recycling Commission. The commission is charged with studying and making recommendations related to the disposal and recycling of computer equipment in Illinois.
The following grants come from a newly established Electronics Recycling Program. The grant program focuses on the development and expansion of permanent collection and processing facilities that handle end-of-life computers and other electronics. Nearly $450,000 is being awarded to organizations in Northeast Illinois.
Classic Computer Recovery, located in Gurnee, has been awarded a $75,000 grant to establish a permanent collection site to collect, process and recycle electronics.
Gallagher Businesses, Inc. has been selected to receive a $29,000 grant to expand its retail business operation to include accepting obsolete electronic equipment for recycling. In addition to modifying its current location to accommodate the storage of electronic equipment, Gallagher Businesses, Inc. plans to develop a new location in the North Chicago area.
Intercon Solutions, Inc., Chicago, has been awarded a $75,000 grant to enhance their electronics equipment recycling processing capacity. Specifically, this grant will allow the company to upgrade and enhance security of its facility.
MRK Group LTD, Elgin, received a $66,345 grant to enhance its processing capacity to recycle end-of-life electronic equipment. MRK Group will de-manufacture electronic equipment to recover components for reuse in refurbishing computer systems and for resale on secondary markets.
PC Rebuilders, Chicago, partners with the not-for-profit organization Computers for Schools, to distribute refurbished computers to schools, libraries, teachers and not-for-profit organizations. The firm has been selected to receive a $75,000 grant to expand and enhance its computer de-manufacturing and refurbishing capabilities.
The United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Chicago has been awarded a $58,686 grant to enhance and expand its Assistive Technology Exchange Network. ATEN takes in outdated computer systems from corporations, businesses and individuals. These systems are refurbished and provided to students with disabilities.
United Recycling Industries, Inc., West Chicago, has been selected to receive a $67,762 grant to establish and service a minimum of ten permanent collection sites in Chicago-area communities.
Additionally, nearly $340,000 in grants to support traditional recycling projects involving paper, glass, metal and plastics have been awarded:
The City of Chicago’s Department of General Services will receive a $50,000 grant to expand office recycling to 160 more facilities. The funds will be used to purchase various types of recycling collection containers.
LaFruteria Recycling of Chicago has received a $38,950 grant to develop and implement recycling opportunities for businesses and citizens in South Chicago, South Deering, East Side, Hegewisch, Village of Burnham, Calumet City and Lansing. LaFruteria Recycling will develop and service a drop-off recycling site and will also offer recycling collection services to commercial establishments. As the target area of this project has a large Hispanic population, recycling efforts will be supported by a multilingual promotion and education campaign. This project is expected to divert additional recyclable commodities from Illinois landfills.
Loop Paper Recycling, Inc., Chicago, has been selected to receive a $50,000 grant to help it develop a document destruction, shredding and recycling service with mobile capabilities. This project will allow it to expand by diversifying the services offered to its current and potential new customers. The project is anticipated to annually divert an additional 4,000 tons of recyclables from being landfilled.
National Waste Service, Inc. of Chicago has been awarded a $50,000 grant to work with partners to implement recycling opportunities at major special events in the city. Further, a portion of the grant funds will be used to expand recycling collection efforts at the AON building where about 10,000 people work. This project is anticipated to annually divert an additional 778 tons of recyclable materials from being landfilled.
The Village of Algonquin has been selected to receive a $50,000 grant to implement a single-stream recycling collection program. This project is anticipated to divert an additional 295 tons of recyclable commodities from being landfilled.
Ecology Inc. (d.b.a. St. Charles Scrap), West Chicago, has been provided a $100,000 grant to expand its recycling processing capabilities. Grant money will be used to purchase a baler system for plastics recycling, a material that the company does not currently process. This project is expected to expand recycling opportunities for communities, waste haulers and individual businesses in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties. The project is expected to capture an additional 3250 tons of materials.
Yeah. Stop dumping all the Illinois trash in Wisconsin.
Another spending spree. Recycling has been an utter disaster in Chicago. the program is a sham. The people hired to sort garbage never did their job. Most so called recyclables went into the dump.
Thank you, Democrats.
LaSalle County the Arm Pit of Illinois.
Don't feel bad, we're getting Canada's.
Illinois will stop dumping all the trash in Wisconsin as soon as Wisconsin stops pumping raw sewage into the lake.
Touche! Of course, perhaps they'll stop pumping raw sewage in the Lake when Illinois stops blowing ozone north the forces us to use boutique gas! ;')
No, no, no. More than half of our trash comes from out of state. What's worse, is that it doesn't come in sorted like we are required to do.
Read Daley crime family skim.
Mostly from Illinois, but from other places as well. And the trash haulers are not held to the same standards that the Wisconsin trash haulers are. Go figure.
I think it is all a racket. My municipal code allows my city to have me arrested and fined if I do not handle recyclables correctly, yet out of state haulers just bring the stuff in and dump it into the landfill unseparated. They even have the right to stop and search my car if they are suspicious of the way I hand my recycling. Until we kicked up a fuss at City Hall, they had teh right to enter my house to check how I was storing the stuff!
My garbage hauler tells me that they just dump it all in the same pit at the dump. And the out of state haulers do not undergo the scrutiny that the in state haulers do. And the big guys get by with more than the little guys. It is outrageous.
In truth, they've relaxed a lot since our recycling law was adopted ten years ago. Most of them just pick up one bin with everything in it, and they are supposed to sort it at the dump. But I'll bet that that does not really happen. However, they have NOT taken the onerous law off the books.
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