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SCARCE reports rise in community recycling events, warns of fires and hazards at sorting facility
Summary
SCARCE told DuPage County officials about expanded composting and recycling outreach — including a 600-person garden market and 70,000 pounds of books and paper recycled April–June — and relayed safety concerns at the Groot recycling facility, including frequent fires and daily needle finds.
Kaye, a presenter from SCARCE, told the DuPage County Environmental Committee that SCARCE’s spring programs drew hundreds and expanded recycling options while also flagging worker safety issues at local material recovery facilities.
SCARCE hosted a Garden Market with 28 vendors and counted “over 600 people attend,” Kaye said, and ran composting workshops, teacher training and community recycling events that together reached “almost 3,000 people” from April through June. She said SCARCE’s spring collections also yielded 70,000 pounds of books, paper and cardboard.
Those outreach efforts are intended to reduce landfill waste and increase reuse. “We try to reach a variety of people at their interest level or their concern level so we get a broader range of people coming in and learning steps they can take,” Kaye said.
Alongside those successes, SCARCE described safety problems at the region’s material recovery facility operated by Groot. Kaye said facility staff report a high rate of injuries and hazards caused by improper sorting: “they’re having about 4 fires a month,” she said, and staff frequently encounter syringes and other hazardous items. Kaye said the facility fills a 55-gallon drum with syringes roughly every three to four weeks and that employees face daily risks from hidden lithium batteries and medical waste.
SCARCE showed examples of items that should not be placed in home recycling and said the nonprofit is boosting public education after reporting incidents such as a live snake and partial animal carcasses arriving in recycling carts. Kaye said the human sorters at the plant remain vulnerable despite automation improvements.
The presentation also highlighted community-level solutions. SCARCE volunteers built and sold home compost bins using scrap lumber and wire mesh and promoted tree-planting and native-plant sales. Kaye said the group worked with schools to remove single-use black plastic lunch trays districtwide and supported student-led environmental clubs.
The committee asked for follow-up information about where residents can take syringes and EpiPens and about outreach to veterinarians and physicians to prevent medical waste from entering curbside recycling. SCARCE noted an upcoming October collection event intended to give residents proper disposal options and to reduce hazards at the sorting facility.
Committee members thanked the presenter and had no formal vote on the report.
