Forty percent of the waste generated by Kane County residents was collected for recycling, according to the county’s Department of Environmental Management.
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Kane officials, who began the recycling program in 1989, want 50 percent of the waste collected from residents, businesses and construction sites recycled by the year 2003.
In 1996, 38 percent of the refuse was recycled and, in the first year of the program, 9 percent was collected, according to recycling coordinator Gary Mielke.
Each home in the county separated an average of 790 pounds of recyclable material during 1997, up from 775 the year before, Mielke said.
More than 2,500 businesses also participate. Under the county’s mandatory recycling ordinance, all businesses must separate their two largest recyclable materials. About 5,500 tons of construction materials were recycled last year from an estimated 70,000 tons of waste.
The county annually surveys waste-hauling companies and recycling companies.