Our Commitment to Stewardship
Homewood Disposal strives to make every effort in its operations to protect the environment and to preserve natural resources. This concept of good stewardship is not a new one. In fact, Homewood Disposal was founded by a man whose Christian faith emphasizes mankind’s stewardship of the earth. Our commitment to stewardship also extends to other precious resources, including our finances, our time, and our employees.
Commitment to the Environment
“Go Green” has been a popular phrase for many years, but environmental responsibility is no trend–it is a call to care for creation. The primary way we help ensure a cleaner environment for the future is through our recycling program. Our state-of-the-art Diversified Recycling Material Recovery Facility processes 600 tons of materials each day. The commodities we produce are re-manufactured into new products such as carpet, playground equipment, and aluminum and glass containers.
Commitment to the Clean Energy
Homewood Disposal continuously researches new technology that helps us carry out our commitment to a cleaner environment. In an effort to reduce emissions and our carbon footprint, we have built a fleet of refuse vehicles that run completely on compressed natural gas (CNG), and we are working to expand the number of those vehicles. CNG is quieter, has greatly reduced emissions, and uses natural gas from the United States, which reduces our dependency on the volatile foreign petroleum market. We have also built two CNG stations, one of which is available for public/semi-public use. Our efforts have earned various awards, including an Illinois Green Fleet Member designation.
Commitment to Education
Equipping our youth to be good stewards of the environment goes beyond showing them how to recycle their lunchroom milk cartons. Our education program also helps instill a sense of personal accountability and hope for the future. We regularly visit classrooms in our local schools to present easy-to-understand messages about the importance of recycling. Students especially enjoy a seeing the Homewood Disposal mascot, Wendy the Waste Truck®, which runs completely on CNG, a clean burning fuel. We also welcome outside groups to our facility and classroom space to see the recycling sorting process first hand.