Mayor Richard Daley said Saturday the switch to a suburban-style recycling program will cost more money and take hold slowly across the city.
City officials announced Friday the expansion of a pilot program featuring blue garbage bins for recyclables. That system, which will reach across the city by 2011, will replace the city’s controversial blue bag recycling program, which was rife with problems and lack of participation. “It’s going to take time,” Daley said when asked about the bin program. “The other way was much cheaper.”
City Hall long has been moving toward replacing the blue bag program. The unusual system mixes bags of recyclables with the rest of the garbage, unlike the more common method, where recyclables are placed in their own container, separate from trash. The city will distribute blue carts to 92,000 more households this year, bringing the program to nearly a third of the 600,000 homes with city garbage service, officials said. The city will add 140,000 more homes per year from 2009 through 2011. The blue cart program is being paid for in part by an $8 million state grant.
Daley responded to questions about recycling after a half-mile trek with an estimated 300 residents from the Back of the Yards neighborhood. The march began in the 4800 block of South Seeley Avenue, where a mother was slain on Halloween after returning home from trick-or-treating with her three children.
Children walking in the march carried a poster that read: “Together we can make our children and our neighborhoods safer.” Residents prayed for strength and sang about faith.
At the end of the march at Seward Academy, officials told parents it is up to them to protect their children.
“The voice of the community is a lot louder than any handgun,” Chicago Police Supt. Jody P. Weis said.
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ocasillas@tribune.com
