CMAP, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning GO TO 2040: Idea Zone
Strategy Papers

About Strategy Papers 


Wastewater Strategy Report:
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Historic Preservation Strategy:
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Volpe Climate Report:
About | PDF PDF 

School Siting Strategy:
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Solid Waste Disposal:
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Context Sensitive Design:
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Managed Lanes:
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Conservation Design:
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Agricultural Preservation:
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Parks & Open Lands:
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Inclusionary Zoning: 
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Urban Design
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Brownfields: 
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Car-Sharing:
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Bicycling:
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Teardowns:
Summary | Interactive Report | PDF PDF 

Solid Waste Disposal Strategy Report Summary

solidwaste3

Table of Contents
Summary Page 
Introduction
Previous Recommendations
Existing Conditions
Waste Disposal Facilities
   Landfills
   Transfer and Compost
   Recycling Centers
Other Solid Waste Processing
Impacts of Municipal Solid Waste
   Recycling
   Composting
Conclusion
Recommendations
Bibliography  

Recently, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency projected only eight more years of landfill capacity in northeastern Illinois.This is the most imminent landfill expiration date in the state, 39 years closer than southern Illinois’. The simple solution is to dig more landfills or ship more garbage to Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin – even New Jersey. But effective solid waste management is not simple; its sustainable success depends on an array of policies and practices that prevent waste, reuse waste, recycle waste, burn waste, compost waste – and yes, bury waste. The following strategy report – informed by academic research and the expertise of the Illinois Counties Solid Waste Management Association – explores one region’s trash, and the disposal methods necessary to ensure that northeastern Illinois remains another generation’s treasure. For analysis purposes, addressing solid waste disposal = optimizing (in terms of equity, efficiency, and environmental stewardship) the pick-up, hauling, and treatment of refuse.

Key Questions

  1. In your daily life, do you think about the amount of waste that you generate and how it might affect other aspects of your life?
  2. Do you undertake home composting in your household? Do you feel you have enough information about composting to start this process?
  3. Does the amount of packaging in a product affect your decision in purchasing it? Do you look for products made from recycled content/material when you are shopping?

Primary Environmental Impacts 

Depending on the waste disposal practice, the impacts of management will vary:

  • The environmental effects of landfilling include hazardous gas emissions, water quality/contamination, energy consumption, natural habitat degradation, and biodegradation.
  • The environmental impacts of recycling include reduction in landfill space consumed, reduction in raw materials consumed, litter, and energy consumption.
  • The environmental impacts of composting include fertilization and reduction of landfill space consumed.

Primary Economic Impacts 

Depending on the waste disposal practice, the impacts of management will vary:

  • The economic effects of landfilling include siting resistance and regulation and disposal costs.
  • The economic impacts of recycling include production costs, capital and employment, collection/sorting costs.
  • The economic impacts of composting include compost market and waste separation.

Continue reading the Solid Waste Disposal Strategy Report