Board Approves Commercial Recycling Deal

What began as a spark of an idea on a Deerfield Committee of the Whole meeting five years ago became reality Tuesday when the Village Board of Trustees unanimously approved a resolution awarding a commercial hauling franchise to Lakeshore Recycling Systems.

State regulations require a 15-month transition period from the current arrangement where Deerfield’s business community deals individually for waste removal rather than using the Village’s exclusive agent.

“Does the 15 months start running from then (the day the contract is signed)?” Mayor Harriet Rosenthal asked Andrew Lichterman, assistant to the village manager, after his presentation.

“It starts running today,” Lichterman said.

Though companies will be required to use Lakeshore with exceptions for businesses which have long term multistate contracts, their cost for hauling is expected to drop, according to Walter Willis, executive director of the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County.

Along with taking waste to landfills, Lakeshore will provide a four-cubic-yard recycling container to each business and one free pickup a week. Willis believes this will dispose of 75 percent of Deerfield’s commercial recyclable waste.

With the contract approved, 75 percent of those enterprises will be recycling by the end of April, 2017, according to Lichterman. “Fifty percent will be recycled by April 30, 2016, and 75 percent by April 30, 2017,” he said.

Get local news in a daily email from Patch. It's like getting a free newspaper. Learn more. Then "like" us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.