Kane County, IL Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Kane County Code Sec. 11-111 puts the separation duty on every occupant of a single-family, two-family or multi-family dwelling: recyclable materials, defined to include aluminum and tin cans, newspaper, corrugated cardboard, mixed office paper, magazines, plastic bottles, tubs, jugs and jars, and glass bottles and jars, must be kept out of the regular trash and stored separately in recycling containers. Collection has to come from a hauler licensed by the county under Sec. 11-113, and that hauler is chosen by the occupant, the property owner, a manager, a homeowners' or condo association, or by a municipal or township franchise; owners of two-family, multi-family buildings and mobile home parks are specifically required to arrange collection for their tenants.

Once recyclables are set out for pickup, ownership and all responsibility for their handling passes to the occupant until the licensed hauler actually removes them, at which point ownership and responsibility shift to the hauler. Anyone without a county license who takes, collects or scavenges refuse or recyclables that have been set out for a licensed collection program is committing a separate violation, aimed at stopping unlicensed scrappers from raiding curbside bins ahead of the scheduled truck. Haulers, in turn, cannot simply landfill or incinerate what they collect: Sec.

11-111(B)(4) requires them to make reasonable efforts to sell recyclable material to a processor or end user first. The county's Division of Environmental and Water Resources administers and enforces the article and can inspect hauling vehicles and common areas of multi-family properties, though not the interior of an occupied unit, to check compliance.