Committee decides government shouldn’t force McLean County businesses to recycle waste

Posted on January 6, 2018

recycling — *The McLean County Board’s land use committee rejected a proposal requiring businesses to recycle more of their garbage. (WJBC file photo)*

By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – The McLean County Board’s newest member succeeded in persuading a board committee to scrap requirements that would have forced businesses to boost recycling efforts.

Proposed regulations were a key component of a waste management plan, with a goal to recycle 80 percent of the waste generated in the county by the year 2037.

However, the land use committee favored member Ryan Scritchlow’s market-driven approach to recycling, which will be considered by the full county board at its January 16th meeting.

Michael Brown, executive director of the Ecology Action Center and the county’s solid waste coordinator, said the objective is to reduce dependence on landfills and the costs of hauling garbage there.

“This plan was designed to attempt to address that, and put into place a more assertive approach to waste management,” Brown said.

Scritchlow, who proposed the watered-down plan, was appointed to the board in September to replace retiring member Rich Buchanan.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]

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