State Not Doing Enough to Recycle

Illinois is taking steps to reduce global warming emissions, but much more could be done to improve the state's recycling programs, say members of the Illinois Green Government Coordinating Council, managed by Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn.

"Current practices are detrimental to total recycling," said Marc Miller, senior policy analyst for Quinn, who coordinated the council's quarterly meeting in Chicago in late June. "This is the view, voiced numerous times, of this council."

In Springfield, where thousands of state workers are based, only cardboard is recycled from paper waste, said George Vander Velde of the Illinois Waste Management Research Center, a division of the Department of Natural Resources that analyzes waste issues. "The current status of recycling is inadequate."

At the council's last meeting, agency representatives announced that a new five-year recycling contract was signed for state offices in Springfield that maintains the current program. This prompted Quinn to ask if the Thompson Center - where his office is located and where the meeting was held - and other state buildings in Chicago were recycling.

Council members agreed that this contract - and Illinois' recycling programs in general - needs to be reviewed on a broader level.

"It's embarrassing," Quinn said.

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(c) Keri Lynch 2007