Chicago, a city with a garbage reputation

According to a new study by the Illinois chapter of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group,. Chicago’s recycling rate of 9 percent in 2017 (the most recent data available) was the worst of all major Illinois cities that have a recycling program. 9.2019

You read the news every day. Whether it’s on Facebook, CNN, or and actual news paper. One topic you may read about often is climate change and the many ways we contribute to it and ways we can alleviate it. But of all the things you do to help, how do you go about doing it? Do you get an electric car to stop CO2 emmisons from cars? Stop eating meat because to conserve water? There’s a lot of ways none of which are easy to just start. Here in Chicago though there is an easy way to become a greener and all you have to do is whatch out for what you throw out. And no we’re not talking about recycling.

The city of Chicago has had a recycling program for some time now. And over that period its manage to make no real impact. Who’s fault is that? Not you, you perhaps work every day to make sure the correct items are in that blue bin out in the alley. It’s not your fault that when your bin is collected most if not all of what you put in there went to a landfill any ways. Chicago’s 9% recycle rate is the worst in the state. And when Chicago is the largest city in Illinois, it makes that recycle rate unacceptable.

Healthy Soil Compost LLC is one of the few alternatives to tradtional trash services. They’re residential composting service has grow over the last few years.

In 2018, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel awarded the city’s poor recycling program to third pary contractors in an attempt to improve on it’s poor reputation. However, after a year there has been no sign that the processing centers Waste Management, Flood Brothers and others own and operate, recycle incoming waste from the city’s residential grid. It is believed that the these companies have adopted the same process the ctiy had that allows for an entire bath of recycable waste to be dumped in a landfill if one item in the bin is contaminated. No household is perfect and all it takes is on coffee cup that still has residue in it to designate a lot of the recallable items from the very truck that dropped it off as contaminated. This is were small waste management companies, like Health Soil Compost, saw an opportunity not only to give you an alternative to your own garbage service, but to help be green in the process.

In the late summer of 2019, The Berghoff Restaurant and Adams Street Brewery began composting most of the waste produce by both the brewery and productions kitchens in order to reduce waste to landfills. 3.2019

Healthy Soil has not only helped residents become greener and with its door to door composting service, but it’s expansion into commercial composting has greatly helped businesses find an alternative to traditional landfill services and do something that combats climate change. In the late summer, Pete Berghoff and his team moved forward with Healthy Soil to take compostable waste from it’s production kitchens, bakery, cafe and brewery. “We’ve always wanted to continue pushing for greener alternatives. Since I’ve been back at the Berghoff I’ve made it my personal mission to make this iconic memory factory as green as possible.”

Since it’s partnership with Healthy Soil, The Berghoff donated over a ton of compostable material. And with the holidays around and the brewery running its likely that number will increase as time continues.

While single use plastics and other non compostable materials still need to be used on a daily basis, the alternative Healthy Compost offers allows not just residents but businesses to alleviate the amount of waste that ends up in landfills and oceans.