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Ne​ws & Announcements, November 2024:​​​​​​​​

Kane County Recycles in the News: ​Kane County Recycling Coordinator, Clair Ryan, was interviewed by Fox 32 as part of a piece covering the kick-off of a regional grant-funded project to promote recycling in the Chicago Metro Region. See the news clip here. Learn more about the project here​.

Campaign Sign Recycling: ​The votes have been tallied and races have been called. Learn how to reuse or recycle plastic campaign signs on our events page. There will be collection points in various spots around the County through Sunday, Nov. 17th.​

Leaf Management: ​Our Yard Waste Page has been updated with tips and resources for managing leaves this fall. 

Still Have Pumpkins Hanging Around?: Is your jack-o-lantern planning to haunt you from the landfill? Thwart its spooky plans by composting, either at home or at the Pushing the Envelope Farm compost pile in Geneva. More info composting tips right here​.​​​

Monthly Aurora Pop-up Event: Our next pop-up event at the Aurora Ace Hardware, 994 N. La​ke Street, Aurora, is Saturday, December 7, 9am - noon. We accept electronics, clothing and textiles, books and other paper items for recycling. TV/monitor fees apply. See our Centers page for more details on item acceptance.​

New Items Accepted at Fabyan: ​The County, eWorks and Flat Can Recycling are expanding their partnership to accept more "hard to recycle" items at Fabyan Parkway. These items include smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, child car seats and boosters, and ride-in toy cars​ (both low-tech​ push models and battery powered self-propelled). There are recycling fees associated with these items. Please see the Recycling Centers page for more info.

Media at Fabyan Program on Pause: ​Due to vendor issu​es, we have to end our obsolete media reuse and recycling​ pilot at the Fabyan Parkway Recycling Center, effective August 19th. We hope to be able to resume the program again in the future.

Learn About Composting with Worms: ​We have a new page on​​​​ our website introducing the Kane County Worm Bin, and walking step by step through the process of starting a worm composting system. Check it out here!

The Kane County Worm Bin has been eating our garbage for 15 months!​

Styrofoam Drop-off in West Dundee now 24/7: ​Chicago Logistics Service, in collaboration with Dart Container, recently obtained an outdoor receptacle which allows their existing Styrofoam drop-off to be open around the clock. It's located behind the building at 701 Wesemann Drive in West Dundee, near the loading docks​. Block #6 Styrofoam, clean foam food and beverage containers, foam coolers, and separately​ bagged packing peanuts are all accepted from the public for free​.

Nicotine Vapes Now Accepted at Naperville HHW: ​The Naperville Household Hazardous Waste Site, which is open to all state residents every Saturday and Sunday, 9am - 2pm, is now accepting nicotine-containing vape devices. These are very challenging items to dispose of, because they contain a substance that is hazardous to human health at high concentrations and lithium batteries. Looking to quit? See Kane County Health Department resources here​.

Go on a Waste Journey: ​Ever wonder where exactly your recycling, trash or yard waste goes to after it's picked up from your home or business? Check​ out our​ new Waste Journey page, featuring a map of all the different facilities that consolidate, sort, compost and store our waste.

Kane County Environmental News on Facebook: Kane County's Recycling and Environmental Program has a new Facebook page! If you are a FB user, please give us a follow! The page will be used to share announcements and news about recycling and waste reduction, energy efficiency, sustainability, stormwater and water quality.​​​

Kane County Recycles 2024 Green Guide: We have a new 12-page guide covering waste reduction and sustainability info for Kane County residents. You can download a PDF of the guide today. If you're on our mailing list, print copies will be arriving in your mailbox soon, and bulk distribution to municipal buildings, libraries, etc. is continuing through mid-March.​

Battery Awareness: ​The Kane County Recycling Coordinator recently worked with peers to develop some statewide guidance (see website and Facebook). Need to know where to recycle batteries in Kane County? Here's the scoop! Do you think you might have a "spicy pillow" (a.k.a. a damaged lithium-ion battery) on your hands? Kane County residents can r​educe fire​ risks by learning how to recognize damaged batteries, where to take them​, and how to prevent battery damage in the first place right here!

Updated Medication Take-Back Options: ​We have updated our medications'​ page with new info for drop-off kiosks and mail-in options provided through the Illinois Drug Take-Back Act. The page now includes a custom map of Kane County take-back kiosks funded through the program. 

New "Bits and Pieces" Self-Service Kiosk at Fabyan: We are happy to ​announce the availability of a four-bin kiosk at the Fabyan Recycling Center for small hard-to-recycle items. These items are being collected to benefit existing local organizations or programs. The items accepted at the Kiosk are: Bin 1 - ink jet cartridges​; Bin 2 - dry art and school supplies (what does that mean? glad you asked - we have a full list here​); Bin 3 - eyeglasses and hearing aids; Bin 4 - can caddy holders and mul​ti-beverage ring holders. Kiosk items only may be dropped off when the site is open and after-hours or on weekends. All other site materials (electronics, clothing, aerosols, books, ​paper) may only be brought in during normal site hours (8am- 4pm Mon - Fri).

Kane's First Plastic Bag Ordinance: Did you know that Kane County's first plastic bag ordinance in City of Batavia goes into effect soon, on July 1st? We updated our Plastic Bags and Films page to include information on the ordinance. We also made a new page on Reusable Shopping Bags with our recommendations for the best bag types, tips on reusable bag hygiene and more. Finally, we'll be doing some reusable bag reviews in Kane County Connects next month. Stay tuned!

Think Spring = Yard Waste Season: ​Ahead of spring clean up, we updated our Landscape Waste​ page, which includes information​ and links for regular curbside yard waste programs, and for brush collection programs. As a reminder, some yard waste programs allow food scraps to be mixed in​. ​​​​

New Recycling Center Guide: ​The information inside is mostly unchanged, but we gave our PDF Recycling Center Guide a redesign to improve form and function. 

Green Your Next Remodeling Project: Cons​truction or demolition debris (CDD) results from building, remodeling and demolition projects, both large and small. See our recent article in Kane County Connects for tips on how to lessen impacts and dispose of materials responsibly. Or skip straight to our new CDD page to find businesses providing CDD handling services locally.​