Ongoing initiatives

In April 2025, the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) launched the Hefty ReNew program in four of its communities, including Glencoe, Skokie, Wilmette, and Winnetka, for hard-to-recycle soft plastics that are not accepted in any curbside recycling collections. Go Green Winnetka is aware of the concerns about this program and the chatter around it and will keep an eye on it. But as long as these soft plastics continue to become more ubiquitous in our lives, we are cautiously optimistic that this program, brought to us by trusted partners in our local waste agencies and haulers, like SWANCC, SWALCO, and LRS, will be preferable to the current disposal option of landfill + litter + lingering pollution for these plastics.

For more information about the Hefty ReNew program, visit the Village of Winnetka website and SWANCC’s website.

Recycle Coach* is a state-wide program available at no cost to every municipality and funded through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, with support from Winnetka’s transfer station, the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County. Residents may download the Recycle Coach app at recyclecoach.com, the App Store, and Google Play and may now access the information on the Village of Winnetka’s Refuse & Recycling webpage.

Recycle Coach is a comprehensive waste disposal app that advises residents on waste and recycling schedules and proper waste management to decrease contamination at material recovery facilities, increase the diversion of materials from landfills, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Municipalities upload their local collection schedules, drop-offs, events, and disposal rules for various materials, which Recycle Coach turns into customized waste, recycling, and sustainable materials management information and education specific to where they live, including:

• Collection, drop-off, and event calendars, including when holidays affect collection 
• Updates on service changes
• Comprehensive database on what is and isn’t recyclable, including local disposal information for common and uncommon items (batteries, electronics, soft plastics, bulky items, tires, paint, eg - you name it, it’s in there)
• Additional educational content, including useful recycling tips and weekly recycling quizzes

*Full transparency/disclosure, Go Green Winnetka’s president now is employed by Recycle Coach and helping to roll out this state-wide program.

EcoShip is a Chicago-based nonprofit that diverts packaging materials from landfills and provides them to local businesses and artists for reuse. Now you can drop off materials at Rebuilding Exchange in Evanston.

Drop off packaging materials, along with other hard-to-recycle items such as toothbrushes, sneakers, and more in collaboration with the City of Evanston. You can also pick up materials like bubble wrap and packing peanuts. This site will accept a limited list of items: mailers, bubble wrap, packing peanuts, packing paper, and crinkle cut shred (no personal documents of any sort!)

Know someone moving? Have new neighbors unpacking? Let them know about EcoShip. We also have a handy New Homeowners Guide on our website to assist in making environmentally-friendly choices throughout the moving process.

Go Green Winnetka has created a New Homeowners Guide, a go-to resource to help people moving homes make a sustainable transition. The Guide has numerous suggestions for conscious choices before and after the move that positively influence our environment. Practical tips are offered, from eco-friendly packing materials to waste diversion strategies.

Please pass this link along to friends and neighbors who are moving or have recently moved. 

That's why Go Green Winnetka is partnering with other organizations to collect  Bread Tags for Wheelchairs. These tags (bread, bagel, muffin, produce, veggies) are pristine plastic and a valuable raw material and billions are made each year. They can’t be recycled through standard curbside programs because they are too small and too lightweight to sort easily. Most are made from #6 plastic/polystyrene.
 

Look for Mason jars at Grand Food Center and D36 schools—and start saving those bread tags!

260,000 bread tags = 200 lbs of plastic = one basic wheelchair

Check out these websites of participating organizations for more information.

Go Green Winnetka
Glencoe Sustainability Task Force
SCARCE
Danielle Cares for Chairs

Contact Go Green Winnetka with any questions.