Kankakee County, IL Trash & Recycling: Collection Schedule (2026)

Section 46-119(a)(1) of the Kankakee County Waste Hauler Licensing/Reporting and Recycling Ordinance states that every household, business, industry, and institution in the county is encouraged to use regularly scheduled garbage and recycling collection from a licensed hauler, rather than requiring it outright for unincorporated residents. Instead, mandatory service obligations under the ordinance attach to the hauler and, in some cases, to the property owner: under Section 46-120(b)(2), any hauler licensed to work in the county must provide recycling service to residents and owners of rental residential dwelling units in unincorporated areas upon request, rather than as an automatic curbside program.

The county or a township can separately award a franchise agreement for exclusive residential waste and recycling service in specific unincorporated areas. Whoever collects refuse commercially in the county, including on a regular route, must hold a county refuse hauler's license issued by the health department under Division 2 of Chapter 46, with an exception for a property owner or tenant personally hauling their own single-family waste. Licensed haulers operating a regular collection route must use an enclosed packer-type vehicle, keep it in sanitary condition, and are barred from parking a loaded truck overnight on public or private property.

Haulers must also file annual tonnage reports with the county's solid waste and environmental division breaking out residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial waste collected in both incorporated and unincorporated areas.