County sustainability office schedules more recycling and hazardous-waste collections, reports transfer-station use and juvenile-detention solar output

Peoria County sustainability staff said the county has expanded electronics and hazardous-waste collections, increased composting capacity and is tracking participation in newly available recycling services. The county opted into the Consumer Electronics Recycling Act and will use a recycler named Dynamic to run collections; staff said 8 collection sites are planned for 2026 and the first collections for 2025 are scheduled now. Hazardous-waste collections that accept latex paint are set for Aug. 2 at Expo Gardens, Sept. 13 at 3 Sisters and Oct. 4 at Albert Park; hours are 7 a.m. to noon and no appointment is required. Staff said the unit-of-local-government tire collection has 12 responding units and 980 tires committed for pickup. Composting activity at two county locations totaled 6.7 tons in 2024, and the county expanded composting into the community room for events. Curbside recycling participation stood at 1,015 subscribers as of July 23, with transfer-station use of 1,679 participants at Chillicothe and 316 at Hopedale since April. The county reported a change to Chillicothe Transfer Station hours (open until 4 p.m.) and said a small maintenance building was left on the landfill site; the city and county as landowners will need to approve any lease related to that building. Staff noted the juvenile-detention solar array has been operating and generated 69.2 megawatt-hours between June 28 and July 29 under Illinois Solar for All.