The Department of Public Health is charged with enforcing environmental regulations, such as the regulation of recycling facilities within the City of Chicago.
This policy consists of a list of additional recyclable material added to the Section 11-4-2510 Municipal Code. Additional material is listed and grouped by “type.” Properly categorizing and separating recyclable material significantly improves the safety and efficiency of the recycling process; to properly and safely organize and store material to be reused and constructed into new commercial products.
Type A recyclable material(s) refers to, any aluminum or ferrous or non-ferrous scrap metal; bi-metal or tin cans; glass products; paper products; rubber; textiles; plastic products; such as polyethylene terephthalate, high density polyethylene, low density polyethylene, batteries, and electronics. These materials are “generated during the construction, remodeling, repair, and demolition of utilities, structures, buildings, and roads, but only if materials received at a Class V recycling facility and separated from all other materials at that facility in accordance with its permit: ferrous or non-ferrous scrap metal, paper products, and plastic products.”
Type B recyclable material(s) means organic waste, including inedible animal or marine matter. Inedible animal or marine matter means “renderings or any part or portion of an animal, poultry, fish or other marine life, including but not limited to, flesh, bone, hide, skin, muscle, tendons, ligaments, organs, cartilage, blood, fats, or oils, that is not intended or is not lawfully fit for human consumption.” These materials are collected, sorted, transported, or processed for utilizing and reusing matter into commercial products.
Type C recyclable material refers to used motor vehicles or vehicle parts, other than motor batteries, tires, and rims.
Type D recyclable material means construction and demolition debris, not containing lead, asbestos or any other hazardous material in such a way as to render recycling of such material illegal or impossible and that has been rendered reusable, or that would otherwise be disposed of, is then collected, separated, and returned to the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials or product and may include landscape waste that is generated together with construction and demolition debris.
This policy keeps recycled goods legitimately stored and organized, to then be properly reused.“The purpose of these rules and regulations is to further implement and accomplish the purposes of the provisions of Article XX, Section 11-4-2510 of the Municipal Code of Chicago (the “Recycling Facility Ordinance”). These rules and regulations replace the Recycling Facility Permits Rules and Regulations, promulgated on November, 2012.”
The rules and regulations for recycling facilities in Chicago works due to its organization and legitimacy due to the Permit Issuance. The Commissioner will not grant a new permit or renew an existing permit for any recycling facility in Chicago unless the application meets each of the 7 conditions.
The first condition writes that the facility must, “demonstrate that the facility is designed and located in accordance with the requirements set forth in Section 11-4-260 of the Code…including a demonstration that the facility is secure from unauthorized entry, is sufficiently screened from the surrounding area and is adequately lighted after dark.” In addition, the application must demonstrate that the facility is “sufficiently sized and staffed to handle the requested quantity of material, and that the facility is adequately paved in all material handling areas, driveways, and access/haul roads to prevent migration of contaminants or track-out off-site.
The rest of the 7 conditions can be found at:
References:
Click to access RecyclingFacilityRulesAndRegulations_March2014.pdf
Principles of Urban Sustainability 
This is one of the reason as to why in my neighborhood having a compost bin and recycling bin was implemented. To be more strict on this policy, if compost was seen in the recycling bin or vice versa a ticket would be given. However, this is still a good policy because citizens are being more active with recycling even if they are being forced.
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Like Xochi stated, it seems that this policy is very detailed and restrictive in order to ensure the proper recycling of these materials. However, it seems that it’s difficult to implement. I think that the more regulations there are, the more certain people will view this as something that is too rigid of a system. Hopefully new recycling facilities can still follow these procedures without it being too much of a barrier to ensuring a sustainable city.
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