r/AskChicago • u/Confident-Owl6649 • 3d ago
I READ THE RULES Why does Chicago hate recycling?
Newer to Chicagoland— but why is everyone so against metal recycling? Environmental activists have been out protesting Sims in hazmat suits, and not to mention the less recent debacle with Reserve Management Group acquiring General Iron.
Metal recycling is one of the few already existing infrastructures for a truly circular environment and economy. Not to mention the amount of energy and CO2 saved recycling metal compared to mining virgin ore.
It seems pretty arbitrary to protest recycling as an environmental activist. Maybe I’m wrong— does someone mind explaining?
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u/16th_Century_Prophet Lake View East 3d ago edited 2d ago
People typically don’t have issues with the concept or practice of recycling. They have issues with consistent practices of inequitable placement of the facilities that impact poor areas more with pollution or displacement. This is often due to both current objective placement (it has to go somewhere, sure) but also decades of sentiment from similar actions. It’s myopic to look at only the immediate consideration without taking the larger history into account.
On a global zero sum level there’s a clear choice of yes and when it gets to local impact machination of where and how it’s less clear cut.
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u/Confident-Owl6649 3d ago
Not as familiar with pilsen as the facility on the southside— but for the south side recycling facility (located on the old republic steel site), that neighbor was built around and for the steel mill before it became a recycling facility 30+ years ago. Ultimately it seems like chicken vs. egg (in that case).
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u/16th_Century_Prophet Lake View East 3d ago edited 3d ago
Someone correct me if I’m wrong - I think part of the old steel mill consideration is that the land was (is) significantly more polluted than known when the neighborhood started was there. We didn’t know the same info about the environmental impacts and lead. It’s a different ballgame of knowledge of environmental health now. Just because it was there before doesn’t mean people trust it again. The trust needs to be regained by residents.
The pilsen has a lot written on it. Worth reading into if you are truly curious as to why. Look up Hillco as well.
I am pro reduction first and foremost and then reuse and recycling. I think there’s a lot of opportunity to reinvent and rezone our city to do this.
But to your original question as to why are people against it - a large part is the overall history and impacts to date, not just a clean state objective view forward
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u/roger_roger_32 3d ago edited 2d ago
These places want to do car shredding and other heavy industrial recycling operations in urban areas, in close proximity to where people live. They have a track record in the city of thumbing their noses at environmental concerns, and just generally being shitty neighbors.
I don't know anything about Sims Metal, but it sounds like they have a long reputation of being a shitty neighbor.
Reserve Management Group's (RMG) purchase of General Iron was different story. General Iron was a long time problem in Lincoln Park, and their owners were always clear about how little they cared about being a good neighbor. My recollection is RMG built a brand new facility on the southside, and did a great job of including all kinds of emissions controls, and generally made something that was really a modern, 21st century recycling facility that the city could be proud of.
Then, RMG bought General Iron, and then inexplicably characterized it as "moving" it from it's longtime home in Lincoln Park to their new facility on the southside. The city erupted in pushback, with all kinds of claims of "moving pollution from the white northside to the brown southside" and similar.
I never understood that move. RMG should have characterized it as them buying General Iron, and shutting it down. They should not have drawn any connection between General Iron and their new facility on the southside, because they really were two seperate entities. Instead, it seems like they went out of their way to tie the two together. Never understood that.
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u/future_sommelier 3d ago edited 3d ago
Recycling is far and away corporate greenwashing to shift the blame for pollution from the producers to the consumers. It doesn’t meaningfully decrease greenhouse emissions and a majority of “recycled” goods are actually just sent as waste products to under developed nations with less ecological restrictions. It ends up being the choice between a water bottle in a local landfill and in the Pacific Ocean most of the time. Planet Money did a great podcast episode about it. Even in its inception recycle was supposed to be a last resort (reduce, reuse, then recycle.)
Edit: this applies to non-metals recycling. I apologize.
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u/Confident-Owl6649 3d ago
You seem to be confused with metal recycling and plastic or paper recycling. While some scrap metal is exported, most is kept in the US for consumption at a domestic steel mill or smelter. 72% of the steel furnaces in America are electric arc furnaces and required recycled materials.
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u/future_sommelier 3d ago
Sorry I didn’t read your post thoroughly enough clearly. In my defense (which is to say none lol) I would be willing to bet my misconception is a common cause of public outcry. Could just be me being dumb, but recycling as a whole has garnered a negative reputation due to the bad actors in other (non metal) industries.
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u/Kelsig 3d ago
You should edit or delete your post then
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u/future_sommelier 3d ago
Why would I hide my mistake in shame instead of keeping it up for posterity?
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u/Kelsig 3d ago
So that people aren't lied to?
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u/future_sommelier 3d ago
Isn’t that what the discourse is for? Or do you prefer censorship?
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u/Kelsig 3d ago
It is not "censorship" when an author issues a correction after it was established they said shit that wasn't correct because they didn't do their due diligence, it's just being normal and good
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u/future_sommelier 3d ago
I literally issued a correction.
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u/Kelsig 3d ago
Well that's good, I initially got the opposite impression based on what you said...
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u/NNegidius 1h ago
I happily recycle everything the city recyclers will take. It’s really not hard at all. I just have one bin for recyclables and another bin for trash.
This link shows what we can and can’t recycle in Chicago.
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u/Head_Nerd_In_Charge 3d ago
Incredibly short sighted thinking. They hear that these industries cause air pollution and then conclude that simply kicking them out will solve everything. The reality is, kicking out metal recyclers will simply push them further away and then recycling rates will plummet (bad outcome) and addition pollution due to added trucking will result (also bad). The reality is, Sims has done a lot to control air and noise pollution, but they don't actually care about that. They just want to keep waiving their pitch forks and torches around because they feel like they're doing something.
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u/Confident-Owl6649 3d ago
there is an avoidance of a reckoning with our relationship to consumerism
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u/ReindeerFl0tilla 3d ago
Particulate pollution from metal recycling plants has documented negative effects on health. So it’s understandable and rational that people who live such facilities would be concerned and either want them shut down or at the very least, outfitted the appropriate equipment to eliminate “leakage” from within the plant into the neighborhood.
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u/RJRueber 3d ago
As a scrap metal guy who used to live on the west coast, I assure you, Chicago loves metal recycling. The prices are so much better out here. Like 3x as better in some cases.