The Highland Park Environmental Commission announced Thursday night that the two-year-old downtown commercial recycling program, set to expire in March, will be continued.
Last week, the Highland Park City Council accepted the commission’s recommendation to extend the program through May, while the city accepts bids from haulers to remove both garbage and recyclable material. Such items have been collected separately.
The city was the first in Lake County to participate in a pilot program for commercial recycling sponsored by the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County. An agency grant and city funds paid for the program’s first year, with the intention that afterward, businesses would pay for the recycling.
Sara Hoffman, the commission’s vice chairwoman, said that the new joint collection would encourage businesses to continue recycling. The commission plans to work on extending recycling to some of the city’s other commercial areas.
