By Whitney Jackson
Medill Reports - Chicago

Chicago's new blue-cart recycling program, which will see the carts roll into all of the city's wards by 2011, is a step in the right direction, according to environmentalists, city alderman and independent waste management experts.

But better communication by the city is needed before residents will shed their distrust of recycling in Chicago, critics say. On the heels of the discredited blue-bag program, a storm of impatience is brewing.

The 19th Ward - which encompasses Mount Greenwood, Beverly and Morgan Park, served as the pilot ward for the city's blue cart program, a source-separated recycling system launched in 2006.

"A lot of money, energy and good will was violated and wasted through a program that was doomed to fail," said environmentalist Julie Samuels, a board member of the Chicago Recycling Coalition, adding that she is dismayed by the number of blue bags that went directly to landfills without the requisite processing by city workers. "We're very happy that [city officials] have come to see the light, but we'd like to see it done sooner."

City aldermen embrace the new recycling system, but said they are frustrated some residents have to wait up to three years to receive carts.

"I wish we could expedite the roll-out of the blue carts not only in our ward, but throughout the city," said Ald. Robert Fioretti (2d). "I think we need to move forward as quickly as we can to have a true recycling program."

Three years seems like a long time for the execution of the blue-cart program in Chicago, according to Jeremy O'Brien, director of applied research at the Solid Waste Association of North America. But residents must consider how expensive it is to implement a single-stream recycling system, in which the recyclables are completely separate from the waste, he said. The blue-bag program did not require citizens to cull recyclables from their garbage, depending on city workers to separate them out.

"It's difficult to phase in when you have a city the size of Chicago," O'Brien said, adding that cities commonly use phases for this type of recycling program due to the high cost of the carts and extra trucks needed for collecting. "It's difficult to do all at once from a financial standpoint," he said.

Critics say while they understand the budget prevents the entire city from having blue carts immediately, there is no excuse for failing communication about the plans. Many residents have no idea when they'll be receiving their carts and what they're supposed to do in the mean time, and some who do have carts didn't know anything about them until they showed up in their allies, they say.

"I think there's some skepticism still," said Adam Goldstein, who runs a Chicago non-profit recycling organization called "Do the Right Thing! Recycling". "If the education isn't clear, if the terms aren't laid out perfectly . then they'll have problems."

Overall, parties are calling the blue-cart system a victory for Chicago.

"When you make things easier for people, then they'll do it," said Christopher Appelt, a biology professor at St. Xavier University who is following the issue. "This makes recycling about as easy as it gets. It's as easy as trash. You've got one extra cart and you put your recycling in it."

But environmentalists said they can't help but wonder what the city could have accomplished by now if the blue cart system was adopted 15 years ago.

"You cannot call yourself a green city if you don't have a recycling system. That is so fundamental," Samuels said. "Had we been doing a separation program in Chicago for a long time, we might be at a point where we could have bins downtown because it's the same system people have in their kitchen.

"We have to help people to see that these materials have value," said Samuels, noting that the concept of "throwing away" refuse is outmoded. "There is no 'away'. Away does not exist. It's a finite planet," she said.