Suzanne Malec-McKenna, the commissioner for the Chicago Department of Environment, emphasizes that the plan is meant to spur serious discussion and is by no means final. “It’s a model that’s been floated as a possibility,” she says. “I think it’ll end up being a hybrid of a range of models that have worked before it’s done.”
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Not surprisingly, the National Solid Wastes Management Association says that’s simply not true. The waste haulers argue that Chicago’s thousands of businesses and buildings have unique needs, depending on their location and the type of trash they produce, and simply can’t be served by a single hauler (or charged a uniform fee) over a broad area. The trade group is so worried about the new proposal that it’s set up a Web site to counter many of the city’s claims. Among other things, it maintains that other cities with similar systems actually pay far more for garbage collection and recycling.
For more trash talk, check out the discussion Tuesday morning on Chicago Public Radio’s Eight Forty-Eight program.
