Asthma is a national epidemic, affecting nearly 26 million people, including seven million children and disproportionally affecting low income and minority communities. As a part of Asthma Awareness Month, the Cook County Department of Environmental Control wants to encourage all County residents to do their part to reduce air pollution. Everyone benefits from [...]
Click here for more →
Photographs courtesy of the National Park Service
Thank you to all of the volunteers and staff who partnered with the Department of Environmental Control to make the 2013 Earth Day clean-up events a success:
Friends of the Park
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Blue Island Bike Club
National Park [...]
Click here for more →In recognition of Earth Day the Cook County Department of Environmental Control is participating in several events this month that will include electronics recycling and prescription drug take-back opportunities.
For more information or to learn about other pharmaceutical disposal opportunities, call the Environmental Control Department at 312-603-8200.
April [...]
Click here for more →Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced today that an online software system called Green Halo has helped contractors recycle thousands of tons of construction debris and stay in compliance with the County’s new Demolition Debris Diversion ordinance. The ecofriendly ordinance requires contractors in suburban and unincorporated Cook County to recycle 70 [...]
Click here for more →The Cook County Department of Environmental Control and The Rebuilding Exchange will host six free public workshops during March to educate contractors, municipal workers and the general public about the County’s Demolition, Debris and Diversion Ordinance, which came into effect last November.
At each of the three-hour workshops, attendees will learn [...]
Click here for more →
January is Radon Awareness Month
The Cook County Radon Awareness Program is encouraging residents of Cook County to test their home for radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can seep into a house through cracks in the basement floor and walls, around the openings of the sump pump [...]
Click here for more →photo: Chicago Bicycle Program
Environmental award is shared among Cook County, Will County, City of Chicago, City of Evanston and Village of Oak Park
December 7, 2012
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced today that the Chicago region has been named [...]
Click here for more →photo: jbloom
Cook County was proud to help organize the 2012 Green Town Pre-conference meeting on Advancing Commercial Food Scrap Collection in the Chicago Region. There were over 100 haulers, commercial scrap producers, county and municipal employees, advocates and compost facility operators in attendance. You can learn [...]
Click here for more →Cook County Residents can help the environment by keeping unused medications out of the waste stream. The EPA has asked people not to flush old medications, as trace elements have been found in groundwater. Each year, close to 5,000 tons of pharmaceutical and personal care products enter the waste stream. Many survive water treatment [...]
Click here for more →A Message from the President
I believe that Cook County should be a world-class model of sustainability. We are working not only to boost sustainability practices throughout County government, but also to join forces with local governments, nonprofits and business, to accomplish more than we could separately in making each of Cook County’s communities sustainable. To further this work, I appointed Deborah Stone as the County’s first Chief Sustainability Officer, and as Director of the Department of Environmental Control. I also recognize that Cook County needs to share ideas and collaborate with a diverse group of community leaders and sustainability experts. In March 2012, I appointed the Cook County Sustainability Advisory Council to help lift our vision higher and give us access to best practices. You can meet the Council members and read more about their mission in the “Advisory Council” section of this website. Toni Preckwinkle,Cook County Board President
Contact Us
Cook County Chief Sustainability Officer
69 W Washington
Room 1900
Chicago, IL 60602
312-603-8200 (o)
312-603-9828(f)
Coming Downtown?
Click here to reserve discounted parking from Spothero.com, a winner of the "Apps for Metro Chicago" Open Data application contest.
