Trustees Approve Commercial Waste Hauling Franchise Agreement

Grayslake trustees voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve a seven-year commercial waste hauling and recycling franchise agreement with Groot Industries, Inc.

The move, said Mayor Rhett Taylor, will lower the cost of waste hauling for businesses and multi-family buildings. According to a survey of local businesses conducted by the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County, that savings will amount to about 55 percent for 90 precent of Grayslake's businesses. 

The agreement will also provide recycling services, which has been cost prohibitive for a lot of Grayslake businesses, said Trustee Kevin Waldenstrom.

The process to seek a franchise agreement for waste hauling and recycling started about 16 months ago. It started as a topic that came up during a chamber board of directors meeting around the time of the electric aggregation vote. Chamber board members had heard of what was being done in Highland Park, where 82 percent of businesses were able to reduce their garbage and recycling costs with a single franchise.

Trustees held a public hearing on the matter in February prior to seeking requests for proposals (RFPs) for potential commercial waste/recycling franchises.
 
The board held another hearing Tuesday night. Nobody spoke at the meeting.

Though trustees approved the measure Tuesday, the franchise won't begin until February 2015 due to a state-mandated waiting period, said Taylor. Grayslake is one of three Lake County towns—the others being Highland Park and Highwood—to issue such a franchise.