Sustainability in DuPage County

By Connie Schmidt

Sustainability is alive and well, and spreading across DuPage County. The October Program for the River Prairie Group hosted leaders from both the county and forest preserve to give an overview of efforts being made to reduce the waste and carbon footprint in DuPage County.  

Sheila Rutledge, the Chair of the DuPage County Environment Committee, shared both her personal goals for initiatives as well as ongoing programs supported by the county. She began with the concern that in unincorporated DuPage, some areas do not have trash haulers, while others may have four to five different companies traveling on the same street. Sheila is working on an ordinance to match what Lake County does and have less truck traffic and consolidate the waste hauling. A postcard campaign is asking for opinions on this idea. In addition, Sheila is working on food composting for the county building. Sheila explained that solar energy is being discussed for a flat building at the county complex. If successful, she thinks this model could be used on several other buildings. The county has a half-million-dollar contract to mow turf along county roads. Sheila is seeking ways to plant natives responsibly to decrease this unnecessary expense. Her other ideas include decreasing the agenda printing and reducing (hopefully eliminating) the use of foam food containers in the county building. She would also like to explore a grant to do buckthorn awareness for removal. This would be a cooperative effort with Forest Preserve District of DuPage County and the Conservation Foundation.

The list of ongoing projects is immense! Many are in cooperation with SCARCE, the environmental organization supported by DuPage County. These projects include electronic and textile recycling, document shredding, and propane tank recycling. Cool DuPage is a sustainability initiative of the county.  It states that 22% of greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced since 2007. Sheila would like to see that figure updated more frequently. The county has a Dark Skies resolution for sustainable outdoor lighting and is part of the Chicago Regional Trees initiative. With Sheila’s support, county-wide initiatives will continue to grow.

Sustainability is basically the motto of the Forest Preserve. Daniel Hebreard, the President of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage, gave an update of efforts by the Forest Preserve District promoting a sustainable environment. He began by explaining that, considering 13% of all DuPage County land is Forest Preserves, only 2 cents of each dollar taxed is needed to support the Forest Preserves, making it a very good deal for quality of life open to all residents. To begin, over the past few years, The Preserve of Oak Meadows Golf Club was not just rebuilt but eliminated one-third of the holes, and now it is a golf course in a preserve with far less turf grass and far more native plantings. Solar was installed on the golf cart storage barn, making it the only fully net zero entity of its type in the country. Public safety and sustainability go hand in hand as the district addresses major projects in their masterplan. For starters, the district installed solar panels on Willowbrook Wildlife Center that covered one-third of the electric needs, and then, private funders offered more, and now we will have 100% clean energy on this building. Amazing! When the remodel is completed, it is expected that Willowbrook will be the first net zero wildlife hospital in the world, with both geothermal and solar energy. 

Dan went on to explain that the fleet management building is powered by solar, which will power electric needs and the solar-charging vehicles. Other vehicles of the district’s award-winning clean fuels fleet are powered by biodiesel fuel, a waste product of soy, not corn. The landfills are producing energy, too, through various projects. They used to haul leachate, a waste product of landfills, but are experimenting with planting specific trees that absorb the fluid safely and help with carbon capture in the atmosphere. The district has recently commissioned a Sustainability, Resilience, and Green Energy Study. This will guide decisions of the future, possibly helping our own Forest Preserve District of DuPage to become the first net-zero agency in the state. Exciting!

A big thank you to both these busy public servants for taking time out of the campaign and work season to come and chat with a large group of Sierra Club folks about what our local governments are doing to help with a clean environment here in DuPage, benefiting all our residents.