REDUCE WASTE CHICAGO

Reduce Waste Chicago is a nonprofit organization that empowers residents to fight climate change through waste reduction on a personal, producer and policy level.

How do we do that?

We Collect

We host Reuse & Recycling Pop-Ups across the city, an annual Holiday Lights Recycling initiative, and partner with more than 20 nonprofits and artist collaboratives to maximize reuse and impact.

We Inspire

Through our Sustainability Market, a gathering of reuse organizations, businesses, artists and advocates focused on environmental sustainability; school partnerships, classroom presentations, student-led events, and sharing our best practices, we help communities adopt practical waste-reduction and reuse practices.

We advocate

We connect on-the-ground collection work to policy advocacy by sharing lessons learned with decision-makers and supporting policies that make waste reduction easier for residents, hold producers accountable, and protect a healthy environment.

Reduce Waste Chicago is a volunteer-driven 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. In April 2021, we hosted our first Reuse & Recycling Pop-Up in our local town square, inviting neighbors to drop off 20 hard-to-recycle or reusable items. Collected materials were redistributed to nonprofits, food pantries, artists, and specialty recyclers. By pooling effort, we reduced individual carbon footprints through fewer, larger deliveries.

The idea took off. Five years later, Reduce Waste Chicago has diverted more than 85,000 pounds of material from landfills with the help of over 300 volunteers.