New Twist in Morton Grove Controversy Occurs

A controversial Morton Grove waste and recycling company, Lakeshore Waste Services, has merged with another Chicagoland recycling company, Recycling Services, Inc., throwing the future of Lakeshore's Morton Grove location into doubt.

Mayor Dan Staackmann brought up the subject at a village board meeting Monday, saying he and village administrator Ryan Horne had met with Lakeshore Waste Services president Josh Connell Friday to discuss the possible scenarios for the village of Morton Grove.

The newly-merged company is called Lakeshore Recycling Systems, according to recyclingtoday.com. 

Last summer, Lakeshore Waste Services' plan to put a waste transfer station at its Morton Grove site on Oakton east of Lehigh drew dozens of people to a village board meeting to protest the idea.

Earlier: Crowd turns out to protest garbage station

Lakeshore eventually withdrew that plan and which it described as a cleaner operation than a waste transfer station. Nevertheless, a residents' organization called Citizens to Stop the Waste Transfer Station continues to oppose the idea of a recycling center, saying it would bring garbage that attracts vermin, lower property values and increase truck traffic. 

Staackmann said he and Horne brought up with Connell the subject that his company would have to make an application for operations in Morton Grove, and also inquired what the merger might mean for the village.

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Connell said no decisions about what the merged company will do with the Morton Grove site will be made for many months, according to Staackmann, who also said Connell indicated it may be used as a headquarters and/or the hub for their trucks. 

"I further told Josh that the village would establish a committee to look at the impact on our community if an application was ever submitted," Staackmann said. 

Tom Maddex, a leader of the Citizens To Stop the Garbage Transfer Station, thanked Staackmann during the public comments period for taking the initiative to meet with Connell. 

Maddex said he drove down to look to south California Avenue in Chicago to look at RSI's facility and said it was located in the right kind of area for a recycling or waste transfer business--a heavy industrial area not near homes or schools. 

Observing that "the faces may change" on the village board after the April election, Maddex asked for an assurance the village would establish a committee to examine what should be sited at Lakeshore's Morton Grove location.

"I would want this to happen and I’m sure knowing Ryan Horne and the job he’s been doing, it would happen," said Staackmann.

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