County sustainability staff announce expanded electronics and hazardous-waste collections; warn paint program will shift in 2026

Becca, a county sustainability resource staff member, told the board that electronics collection events increased to four dates across October and early November and said the department has strong partnerships with townships for direct-mail outreach to residents. "We will be taking full advantage of that, and not including [latex paint] in the hazardous waste collections because latex paint is not truly hazardous," Becca said, explaining that extended producer responsibility for paint will begin in 2026 and relieve local collections of paint handling.

Becca reported the county's hazardous-waste collections (conducted by GFL under the landfill agreement) accepted 98,195 pounds after two collections; she noted latex paint accounted for 62% of the weight at the Sept. 13 event and will be excluded from future HHW collections once producer responsibility starts. Becca also said the county's IEPA tire collection yielded more than 1,000 tires and that a statewide pilot for residential tire drop-off (hosted by a neighboring county) will run mid-October.

Becca outlined outreach plans, noting township supervisors, landfill committee scheduling and vendor subscription programs; she said GFL reported 1,079 subscriptions in its program and that county staff will coordinate targeted publicity and social-media outreach to increase participation. She also highlighted regional food-insecurity data: "In Peoria County, 14.5 percent or 26,100 individuals are food insecure," she said, and said the county will share additional data in a joint presentation with public health staff next month.

The presentation was informational; no board action was taken.