Illinois state legislators are considering a proposal that would help facilitate carpet recycling, but the effort has what one might call wall-to-wall complications.

Chicago’s Christmas tree recycling event kicks off Saturday and runs through Jan. 22 at 26 parks. The program keeps hundreds of thousands of pounds of trees out of landfills.

Did you know wrapping paper isn’t recyclable in Chicago? Read on for more tips on how to deal with post-holiday waste.

A group of North Side alderpeople and community organizations are teaming up to recycle non-working holiday lights, which, it should be emphasized, cannot and should not be placed in regular recycling bins.

The plastics industry is expected to be putting more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than coal by the end of this decade according to a recent report by Beyond Plastic, an environmental advocacy group.

On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency released its first National Recycling Strategy, which aims for a 50% recycling rate in the U.S. by 2030. 

Plans are underway to keep organic waste out of Chicago's landfills, officials said.

Each year, 22 million pounds of plastic finds its way into the Great Lakes – the source of potable water for more than 30 million Americans. We take a look at what can be done to limit plastic pollution.

Some of the Games’ most high-profile moments will incorporate clever examples of “reduce, reuse, recycle,” like medalists standing on 3-D printed podiums made from recycled plastic collected by the Japanese people. 

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.

The towering sculpture, constructed near the site of this weekend’s G-7 summit, sounds the alarm about the growing problem of electronic waste.

The Department of Streets and Sanitation is turning a page on its beleaguered Blue Cart recycling program, issuing the first new collection contract in nearly a decade. Recycling advocates are cautiously optimistic about the change.

The pandemic has led to a surge in demand for all kinds of shipping materials — especially corrugated boxes, commonly used for e-commerce items and many other goods. We explore how the “box boom” is being felt across the region.

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. 

Where humans see a messy pile of dried needles, goats see a tasty meal. The herd at Urban Growers Collective’s South Chicago farm can dine for weeks on recycled Christmas trees.

At some point, Christmas trees get brown, the needles fall off, and it’s time for them to go. But that doesn’t necessarily mean tossing your tree in the trash.