Hoffman Estates homeowners will no longer have to bother with disposing of bulky packing materials left over after appliances and furniture are delivered to their homes.
The Hoffman Estates Village Board this week unanimously approved an ordinance that requires retailers who make home deliveries of appliances and furniture to haul away packaging materials in some instances.
The ordinance is believed to be the first law of its kind adopted by any community in the United States, according to Mike Friesen, recycling coordinator for Hoffman Estates.
Hoffman Estates Mayor Michael O`Malley, who proposed the ordinance, said the law is intended to reduce the volume of trash being collected in the village and to encourage recycling.
O`Malley noted at Monday`s board meeting that Hoffman Estates and other Illinois communities are facing a state mandate to reduce their waste streams by 15 percent by 1994 and 25 percent by 1996.
The new law will apply only in those instances when a customer asks that an appliance or furniture be unpacked and set up in the home by the delivery crew. The ordinance covers deliveries of large items like couches, tables, mattresses, bookcases, desks, stoves, refrigerators, washers, dryers, freezers, air conditioners and hot-water heaters.
Delivery crews will be required to haul away cardboard, shrink-wrap, pallets, plastic bubble wrap, foam packing, labeling and any other boxes, containers or wrappings.
Though the law does not require that the packing materials be recycled by the retailer, Friesen noted that virtually all of the materials can be recycled.
Large appliances and furniture taken directly home from the store by a customer, or delivered to the home but left for the customer to unpack, are not affected by the packaging materials law.
Residents will also not be required to have delivery crews unpack and set up their new appliances or furniture. The ordinance also waives the disposal rules for retailers in cases where a homeowner asks to keep the packing materials.
