About

This truck is actually a recycling garbage truck. This truck is routed to only pick up material from recycling containers. This recycling truck will transport your recycling material to a single-stream recycling facility NOT a landfill.

The cleaning crew is trained to make sure the two material streams are not mixed. They collect both clear recycling bags and black trash bags and empty the items into the appropriate waste and recycling bin for bulk pick-up service.

Yes. We have worked on many past LEED projects, some of which have recycled more than 95% on the jobsite. Our construction sales team will handle the details, reports, and documentation to ensure compliance and reduce your environmental impact on the job-site.

You can call our helpful sales team at 312-RECYCLE (312-732-9253) for more information and assistance. 

Yes, but many streets and alleys may require an additional permit through the City of Chicago Streets and Sanitation Department. The good news is IRS can easily take care of this for you and offers 3 day or 30 day permits. To make delivery easier please try to block off 2-3 parking spaces so there is enough room to drop-off the roll-off dumpster. Please note that the City of Chicago charges an additional fee for metered spaces and requires alleys must be at least 16 feet wide or larger to spot a 10, 20, or 30 yard roll-off box. 

Hazardous and special waste items are illegal to dispose of in the regular garbage stream. We do offer permitted special waste and hazardous waste pick-up services for businesses. For more information about recycling paint, oil, chemicals, appliances containing Freon, pesticides, tires, batteries, bodily fluids, electronics, asbestos, or light bulbs call 312-RECYCLE.

As much as possible. Since IRS does not own a landfill, it is to our advantage to recycle as much material as possible and divert it from the landfill. By using our material recover facilities (MRF) to divert waste from the landfill we can minimize our disposal fees to keep your rates competitive.

As you are likely aware, Chicago has some of the highest fuel costs in the United States. At IRS, we always try to keep pricing low but customers may occasionally experience a fuel surcharge. For more information about how we calculate these rates visit U.S. Energy Infromation Administration or AAA Fuel Gauge Report.

A tonnage cap is the maximum weight outlined for your container in your price or quote. Anything over your specified tonnage cap is typically charged at $50/ton, which may vary based on your price schedule or quote. Since disposal costs are based on weight this allows us to provide you with the most competitive price quote based on the material type and quantity. Tonnage caps are also in place to prevent damage to equipment and provide safe transportation of material from your location to our facility.

Yes, plastic bags are made from plastic #2 (HDPE) and plastic #4 (LDPE) and we accept both these types of plastic in our recycling program. Most grocery stores and large retail chains also have collection sites for plastic bag recycling.

No, but IRS recommends rinsing these containers out to avoid irritating odors and attracting pests.

Unfortunately there are no recyclers in the State of Illinois that recycle #6 plastic. Economically and environmentally it is not effective to recycle #6 plastic since it costs $3500 in energy input to create $10 worth of post-consumer product. Plastic #6 includes easy to break plastic items such as disposable coffee cup lids, plastic utensils, Styrofoam, packing peanuts, egg cartons, grocery store food meat trays, and take-out food containers.

No, go ahead and leave them in. Independent’s integrative recycling process removes these items from the paper during the recycling process to save you time.

You can check out our dumpster size chart or call 312-RECYCLE (312-732-9253).