CHICAGO — For residents of the 38th and 45th wards, trips to the city's recycling centers to drop off bags of pop cans and beer bottles will soon be a thing of the past.
Blue carts for curbside recycling are expected to be delivered to Portage Park and Dunning homes south of Montrose Avenue and west of Cicero Avenue in Ald. John Arena's 45th Ward and Ald. Tim Cullerton's 38th Ward by the end of July, with the first pickup scheduled for mid-August, according to the aldermen's offices.
Jefferson Park, Gladstone Park and Forest Glen homes north of Montrose and west of Cicero will have to wait a little longer, with carts scheduled to arrive by the end of September. The first pickup will be in mid-October, according to an email from Arena to 45th Ward residents.
All Chicago homes will receive a blue cart for at-home recycling by the end of 2013, according to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The carts will be delivered to the front yards of single-family homes and apartment buildings with no more than four units. The program allows residents to dump unsorted paper, bottles, cans and some plastics into the blue carts, which are picked up twice a month.
The Department of Streets and Sanitation will hold meetings to explain the new system and answer residents' questions at 6:30 p.m. July 22 at the Dunning Library, 7455 W. Cornelia Ave., and at 6:30 p.m. July 29 at the Portage-Cragin Library, 5108 W. Belmont Ave.
Additional meetings will be scheduled in other neighborhoods, according to Arena's email.
The city is also looking for volunteers to become recycling block captains to go door-to-door to explain the new system to their neighbors. For more information, call 312-744-5702 or contact the aldermen's offices.
Before the blue carts arrive, residents can drop off their recyclables at Caldwell Woods, Devon and Milwaukee avenues; the City Clerk Northwest Satellite Office, 5430 W. Gale Street; and behind Wright College, 4243 N. Neenah Ave.
