Officials with the Chicago Department of Public Health have failed to take any steps to enforce a city law requiring at least half of construction and demolition waste to be recycled since 2018, according to a new audit released Wednesday by the city’s inspector general.
“Recycling even a fraction of that would be a critical step forward in responsible environmental stewardship,” Witzburg said in a statement. “There are laws on the books requiring the city to take action; the city has both a legal and a moral imperative to do better in the face of looming environmental crisis.”
In addition, CDPH did not use the approximately $1.2 million it collected in fees under the Chicago Environmental Protection and Control Ordinance from firms doing the construction and demolition work to create a fund to be used to manage construction and demolition debris, according to the audit.