Reduce Waste Chicago

05/15/2026

Join us at the fifth annual 47th Ward Eco Fest on Saturday, May 30, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Welles Park.

💙 Sign up to volunteer!
Spend an our or two (or more) supporting our Reuse & Recycling Pop-Up. Whether you’re sorting, greeting, or setting up. we’d love to have you!
✏️ Sign-up link in bio

💚 Drop off items for reuse, repurposing or specialty recycling!
We’ll be joined by our friends at Flat Can Recycling, Cradles to Crayons and ReStore Chicago.
👍 Full list of accepted items link in bio

🌎 Take action and celebrate the planet
Check out the 60+ organizations working hard to make the world a better place.

A huge thank you to our hosting partners Alderman Matt Martin, Welles Park Advisory Council, WasteNot Compost, Do Good Gardens, Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce and the 47th Ward Green Council!

See you there!

04/30/2026

REMINDER: Today, April 30 is the bi-annual deadline to turn your TerraCycle points into a donation to your favorite charity 😁. You can support our work by logging into your TerraCycle account, going to my points > redeem my points > and donating your redemption to Reduce Waste Chicago. Thank you!

04/28/2026

04/22/2026

Climate change doesn't have a single fix. It never did.

But here's what we know: every small choice adds up. Every conversation shifts minds. Every shifted mind moves communities. Every community shapes policy.

Change doesn't start at the top — it starts with each of us, and it grows from there.

So skip the single-use. Repair before you replace. Talk to your neighbor. Show up and vote. Push for better.

No single act will save the planet. But millions of us deciding enough is enough? That can change everything.

We got this. 🌎

04/19/2026

It's our 5th birthday -- and this map is what five years of your support looks like.

33 wards' worth of collection events, tabling days, school collaborations, and holiday lights drop-off locations.

Reducing waste should be easier for everyone. Help us keep showing up — in every ward and beyond. Link in comments. 🌎

04/17/2026

It’s our birthday! 🎉

It began with an email to 20 neighbors, asking for their old toothbrushes. A year later, on April 17, 2021, it turned into our first Reuse & Recycling Pop-Up.

✨ Today, Reduce Waste Chicago turns 5 — and we have 50 wishes. ✨

Not just to reach every ward in Chicago, but to show up in them consistently, year after year, until systems improve, policies change and doing the right thing for the planet is the easiest thing in the world.

In five years, we’ve diverted 85,000+ pounds of material from Chicago’s landfills, reached 33 of the city’s 50 wards, and been joined by more than 300 volunteers who believe what we believe: the problem isn’t that people don’t care. It’s that with our current systems, it’s too difficult to act on that care.

Today we’re launching a two-week campaign to help each of our 50 wishes come true. Our goal: $5,000 by May 1.

Every gift is a step closer. Link in comment. 💙

04/16/2026

Yesterday was my second visit with the Lindblom Ambassadors, student leaders at Lindblom Math & Science Academy . While we’ve been discussing ways to reduce waste and the circular economy, they’ve also been hard at work planning a mini Reuse & Recycling Pop-Up for their school.

Thank you, Ms. Keene, for inviting Reduce Waste Chicago into your classroom, and Pastor Sam of Garden City Church Chicago, for facilitating collaboration.

Can’t wait for April 29 (during periods A, B and C, for you Eagles out there) — this is going to be fun!

04/06/2026

The Dunkin’ at Home Free Recycling Program with TerraCycle is closing. That’s the simple version of why we’ll no longer be accepting Dunkin’ coffee bags at our collection events.

But it’s not as simple as that.

TerraCycle’s free programs are paid for by brands to recycle their products. It’s the closest thing there is to a national extended producer responsibility (EPR) program, which require companies to address the end life of the products they sell and profit from.

So when a brand that partners with TerraCycle doesn’t feel like paying to process their products’ waste anymore, they just stop.

So what now?

To start, plastic coffee bags aren’t accepted by Chicago’s municipal recycling program, so please don’t put them in your blue cart.

If you’ve been collecting Dunkin’ coffee bags to drop them off at one of our events, you can drop them off with our amazing friends at EcoShip Chicago, who will be accepting them for us for a few more days at their HQ at 3248 N. Pulaski Road, Wednesday (4/8), Friday (4/10) and Saturday (4/11), 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (Thank you, EcoShip!)

03/10/2026

🚨IMPACT UPDATE!🚨 A huge thank you to our 45 drop-off locations and YOU for helping us collect 4,227 pounds of holiday string lights this year. That brings our five-year total to 14,801 pounds of holiday lights diverted from the landfill!

This year we were able to expand from 17 to 26 wards across the city, making it easier for more Chicagoans to recycle broken string lights responsibly.

Huge thanks also goes to:
✨ Union Pacific's Community Ties Giving Program for their $5,000 grant
✨ Our sponsors: Chicago Waldorf School , Alderman Matt Martin - 47th Ward and State Representative Lindsey LaPointe
✨ The owners, alders, managers and staffs at our 45 drop off locations
✨ And the team at WasteNot Compost, our transportation and logistics partner. Not only did they collect lights for us from their customers, they picked up lights from all 45 locations and transported them to Elgin Recycling in style, using their electric cargo van.

Still got lights? We collect string lights at our events year round. Next up: Reuse-a-Palooza, Sunday, March 15, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at The Plant , 1400 W. 46th Street.

03/01/2026