Mount Prospect, IL Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Section 23.405 of the Mount Prospect Village Code, titled Theft of Recyclables, protects the curbside program. Subsection A makes it unlawful for any person to collect, obtain, possess or pick up any recyclable item placed for collection in front of a residence as part of the Village recycling program. The only exception is a person licensed under § 19.203, the article that creates the licensing scheme for solid waste haulers. The verbs are broad: the offense is not limited to taking material from the curb, because simply possessing a recyclable item taken from a collection point is covered.

Subsection B sets the penalty: anyone found in violation is fined as set forth in appendix A, division III of the code.

The rule protects the structure of the residential program. Section 19.203.A.1 allows no more than one solid waste contractor license for collection from residential dwelling units in the Village, so only the exclusive residential franchisee holds the general right to haul residential solid waste. Section 19.202.A.9.c identifies what is being protected: recyclables placed in the Village owned and furnished blue wheeled cart of thirty five, sixty five or ninety five gallons. Section 19.202.A.4 keeps carts off the parkway or alley until four thirty o'clock P.M. on the day before collection, which is when the protection in § 23.405 starts to matter at the curb.

For multi-family buildings, the zoning code at § 14.306.D.1 requires a recycling container area meeting the solid waste coordinator's standards, and screening not less than six feet high for outdoor dumpsters and containers.