The Organic Waste Stream in Chicago
By Jonathan Jackson
628 words
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An organic waste stream is comprised of stuff that was once living, like food waste, food scraps, and yard or seasonal waste. The organic waste stream does not need to end at a landfill.
Chicago’s organic waste stream is currently a voluntary process distinct from the regular Chicago waste stream. The organic stream is predominately generated via fee-for-service agreements between residents or businesses and private haulers and other services moving food and yard waste. This is because Chicago does not have a systematized municipal service or city contractor that provides for the removal of organic waste from residences and businesses. This means that private haulers and scavengers can fill this service gap, for a fee.
If the city offered a municipal service or used city contractors to isolate and remove organic waste, then the organic waste stream would join the regular waste stream and triage process. This could increase compliance with the 1990 state ban on yard waste entering landfills[1]. This would also help the city better accomplish its recent waste strategy, which is to “prioritize the intervention of material before it enters the waste stream[2].” It is important for Chicago to accomplish its waste strategy because the city burdens the surrounding counties with waste. This is partly a result of 415 ILCS 5/22.43a [3] which prohibits any landfills in Cook County. Given the amount of waste Chicago and Cook County generate, this burden is unjust.
Chicago’s 2021 waste strategy is the essence of landfill diversion. Landfill diversion is any intervention which directs “waste” away from a landfill and toward an alternate destination. Alternate destinations for organic waste include infrastructure like windrow composting sites, commercial-grade composting facilities, combined animal feeding operations, and anaerobic digesters. The compost section of the city’s waste strategy recognizes interventions that: reduce or divert food waste, develop the compost market, and increase community interventions.
The central participants in the organic supply chain are suppliers, haulers, alternate end-users, and the landfill.
Suppliers are residents, businesses, and organizations that join the organic waste stream using a fee-for-service agreement.
Haulers are mostly private haulers and private scavengers, as codified in Chicago’s regulated business license ordinances. Ordinance 4-6-130[4] defines private scavengers as the entities and regulated businesses, not contracted with the city, that can remove and dispose of garbage or other waste “from any premises where the removal and disposal of such matter is not provided for by the city.”
Alternate end-users are any organization which will accept organic waste and use it, thus keeping it out of a landfill. At times, this term is exchangeable with alternate destinations. E.g, a compost processor is an alternative end-user for organic waste and may also own real estate which accepts organic waste deliveries.
The landfill is where all organic waste NOT placed into the organic waste stream is delivered. The landfill is typically the end-user of all waste.
The organic waste stream is truly an organic resource stream. Organic waste can be naturally and industrially processed for reuse in the local food system, which makes it a commodity that should be diverted from the landfill. This is what participants in the organic waste stream are accomplishing to the best of their ability within the current system.
As the cost of using landfills grows, and as local end-users for organic feedstock in agriculture and energy increase, the logistics of organic waste removal will more closely resemble product delivery. Since the equipment and infrastructure needed to accomplish either task is similar, this awareness will eventually transition the organic waste stream into a supply chain. It is around this transition that coherent waste management strategies will continue to emerge.
[1] https://www.ilga.gov/reports/static/85th_GA_Senators.pdf (page 206, SB 1599)
[3] https://law.justia.com/codes/illinois/2018/chapter-415/act-415-ilcs-5/title-v/
[4] https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/chicago/latest/chicago_il/0-0-0-2609627