Trash and recycling companies aren’t allowed to make pickups in Chicago between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. For nearly two years, WTTW News has been tracking numerous companies flouting the law and documenting a tsunami of complaints from residents.

A new 311 noise complaint category specifically aimed at catching private haulers flouting the law is live – and the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation can use those complaints to demand data from companies to prove whether they made unlawful pickups.

Eight months after the measure was approved, Streets and San has yet to write a single ticket, despite receiving reports about dozens of scofflaws from sleepless Chicagoans.

West Chicago is currently home to the only waste transfer facility in DuPage County. Now a second one is looking to open and residents are pushing back. 

Despite scores of noise complaints from residents jolted awake by garbage trucks, private trash haulers have been slapped with just five tickets for illegal pickups during quiet hours over the last two years, according to a WTTW News data analysis.

For many Chicagoans, the quiet pre-dawn hours are regularly interrupted by the sound of noisy — and illegal — early morning pickups by private garbage hauling companies. A proposed ordinance aims to fix that. 

Under the city’s noise ordinance, private waste haulers can’t make pickups before 7 a.m. But WTTW News spotted trucks making multiple early-morning stops.

WTTW News saw private garbage hauler Groot making four separate pickups before 7 a.m. last week. It’s not just a nuisance — it’s illegal. Under Chicago’s noise ordinance, trash haulers are banned from work between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Chicago generates more than 4 million tons of material waste annually. A new, highly anticipated report recommends a number of strategies aimed at keeping more of that trash out of landfills.

Less than 9% of the trash produced every year by Chicago residents is kept out of landfills — a rate that has not budged for four years. 

Longtime Chicago Ald. Roman Pucinski once said, “There’s nothing as crucial to an alderman as garbage.” So how did garbage cans become a source and symbol of political power in this city? Geoffrey Baer talks trash.

Buying in bulk and hunting down package-free items can be a challenge that often requires trips to multiple stores. To make sustainable shopping more accessible, two Chicago sisters plan to open a zero-waste marketplace by spring 2020.

In many ways, modern American life is set up for convenience and speed – and that can generate a lot of garbage. What you can do at home to reduce your waste output.

Chicago’s recycling woes have been well-documented, but a new report shows that at least five other cities in Illinois are failing to meet average U.S. recycling rates.

Keeping the river clean is no easy task, particularly during the summer months when the river is bustling. We spend a morning with one of Chicago’s trash-scooping river skimmers. 

Confused about when the city makes blue cart pickups? You can now look up recycling and garbage pickup schedules online as Chicago looks to boost its dismal recycling rate.