Champaign County Environmental Stewards - CCES

05/27/2026

Thank you to BankChampaign for contributing to our capital campaign for a Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility.

Improperly stored household hazardous waste can increase the likelihood of home fires. In addition to the potential injuries and damage caused by these fires, toxic fumes from household hazardous waste can seriously injure first responders.

That’s why CCES is raising funds to build a Household Hazardous Waste collection facility in Urbana. With your support, we can build a safe, clean future for generations to come.

To learn more and donate, visit ccenvstew.org/hhw-capitalcampaign/

For a list of household hazardous waste materials, click here: https://www.ccenvstew.org/household-hazardous-waste/

05/26/2026

This is great to see! Thanks to Sola Gratia Farm and WasteNot Compost for expanding access to this composting service!

05/22/2026

Thank you to Champaign County Design & Conservation Foundation for their generous donation to our Capital Campaign for a Household Hazardous Waste collection facility. We appreciate your support of this much-needed community resource.

Did you know that together, households in Champaign and adjacent counties generate about 1,000 tons of household hazardous waste every year? Too often this waste is dumped in sewers, down drains, and on the ground where it can contaminate our ground water, lakes, streams, and the Mahomet Aquifer, our primary source of drinking water.

That’s why CCES is raising funds to build a Household Hazardous Waste collection facility in Urbana. With your support, we can build a safe, clean future for generations to come. To learn more and donate, visit ccenvstew.org/hhw-capitalcampaign/

For a list of household hazardous waste materials, click here: https://www.ccenvstew.org/household-hazardous-waste/

05/13/2026

In case you haven't heard...CCES, in partnership with WasteNot
Compost, have launched a food scrap dropoff service in Urbana! Instead of your food scraps going to a landfill where they create harmful greenhouse gasses, they'll be used to create nutrient-rich compost!

To learn more, visit: https://www.ccenvstew.org/food-scrap-composting/

To sign up, visit: https://wastenotcompost.com/urbana

05/13/2026

As CCES continues its capital campaign to build a Household Hazardous Waste Facility for Champaign County, we'd like to thank the municipalities that have contributed a portion of their budget to support this effort.

Thank you, Village of Mahomet, for being a Gold Guardian Sponsor.

Household chemicals can be accidentally ingested by children and pets, contribute to household fires, and expose first responders to toxic fumes in the event of a fire. That's why it's so important to dispose of them safely and responsibly.

To learn more and make a donation to our capital campaign, visit cuwasteless.org.

04/14/2026

CCES is a proud member of the Illinois Food Scrap & Composting Coalition! If you'd like to learn more about composting, consider registering for this May 4th webinar, which will kick off International Compost Awareness Week.

Grab your lunch and join us on May 4th at Noon by registering at link below!

Each year we provide an overview of the food scrap, organics, and compost-related legislation pending in Illinois, what you can do to help get that legislation passed, and how you can turn your own ideas into legislative initiatives.

We also dovetail that overview with the annual ICAW theme, which in 2026 is ’Compost! Feed the Soil that Feeds Us” and highlights the essential role compost plays in managing stormwater, removing pollutants, decreasing the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, increasing biodiversity, improving soil health and resilience, remediating contaminated soils, and more.

International Compost Awareness Week Launch:
Merleanne Rampale, IFSCC Board of Director and Solid Waste Agency of Lake County (SWALCO) Programs and Education Director

Legislative Lunch & Learn Presenter:
Liz Kunkle, IFSCC Board of Director and Policy Committee Co-Chair, Recycle Coach Customer Success Manager , Go Green Winnetka Founder and President

During this meeting, attendees will also be briefly introduced to the Board of Directors running for reelection.

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Hy6dnCQiOvhOlHIKpgvg #/registration

04/07/2026

Look for our new billboards around town! To learn more about Champaign-Urbana's new community composting service, visit CUWasteLess.org/compost

03/26/2026

Nice to see the local residential food scrap drop-off, managed by WasteNot Compost, featured by BioCycle!

Urbana, IL launches a compost drop-off program with WasteNot to expand food scrap diversion, offering residents access to year-round organics recycling.

03/17/2026

Champaign County residents, take our online survey on food scrap composting to help us support local food scrap composting solutions. It should take 5 minutes or less to complete. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5XTDRTV
(Photo by Lenka Dzurendova on Unsplash)

02/03/2026

One more reason to bring your reusable mug (preferably stainless steel or ceramic) to your local coffee shop.

The material of your coffee cup matters more than you might think.