Since 2015, the Park District has been installing recycling stations at District parks & facilities.

Since 2015, the Park District has been working to install recycling stations at District parks and facilities. The new standard receptacles for parks (pictured) have been installed in parks alongside projects and recycling bins are available at each of the District’s facilities.

Over the next 10 years, the Park District will continue to replace single stream trash (landfill) receptacles with the standard dual stream receptacle.

Districtwide efforts to reduce paper waste.

Since 2015, Park District staff have increasingly identified opportunities to reduce paper waste.

Examples include:

• Introducing PaperCut
• Transitioning to online registration
• Digital employee onboarding
• E-bidding for District projects
• Electronic contracting process
• Implementing paperless billing practices

In 2023, the Park District hosted our first annual Pumpkin Smash!

In 2023, the Park District kicked off the first annual Pumpkin Smash in Highland Park. Pumpkin Smash events provide a fun way for communities to compost their pumpkins.

In 2024, Park District of Highland Park was one of more than 100 registered host sites and the Illinois program diverted over 165 tons of pumpkins from the landfill. Learn more by visiting SCARCE’s website. 

In 2025, the District hosted our third annual Pumpkin Smash event and more than 100 families joined in on the fun! The City’s Sustainability Advisory Group and Go Green Highland Park helped to make the event a smashing success.

Park District composts landscape waste that is not left on site. Materials left on site are left to naturally degrade back into the environment.

It is standard practice for the Park District to compost landscape waste that is not left on site.

Organic materials like leaves, grass clippings, and fallen trees (where possible) are left on site to naturally degrade – returning nutrients to the soil, providing habitat for insects, and supporting the decomposer organisms.

Organic materials that are not left on site, in addition to hay bales used for the sled hill or fall events, are collected for commercial composting. Commercial composting is a great way to compost herbaceous materials like weeds, which require higher heat to break down without leaving viable seeds.

In 2024, the Park District piloted event composting!

Working with Riobamba Latin Kitchen and Collective Resource Compost Cooperative, the Park District piloted composting at a park pop-up event, Celebración in the Park.

With the support of Riobamba Latin Kitchen, compostable materials were used to serve food (plates, utensils, etc.) so that the food waste, alongside serveware, could be composted. The Park District plans to implement composting at more events in the future.

Go Green Highland Park annually runs a compost giveaway for International Compost Awareness Week.

The Solid Waste Agency of Lake County (SWALCO) donates compost annually to support giveaways across Lake County in celebration of International Compost Awareness Week.  

The last few years, Go Green Highland Park has hosted a compost giveaway at a Park District site. In 2025, the giveaway was at Hidden Creek Aqua Park. More than 100 people visited to collect locally made compost to support their gardens.

Annually, the Park District hosts a collection drive for the community to donate their natural holiday trees.

Annually, the holiday trees collected are chipped for use as woodchips. The woodchips may also be picked up by residents for use in their gardens. Typically trees are collected through the end of January.

If you’d like to recycle your holiday tree, connect with Glenn Nance at [email protected].

Coming Soon! When installed, this bin will collect old clothing and textiles for reuse and recycling.

The Park District partnered with the City of Highland Park to add a Clothing and Textile Recycling bin to the shared Senior Center and Park Fitness parking lot.

This program is run by the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County (SWALCO), materials collected are reused, recycled, and upcycled to ensure they do not end up in the landfill.

See the list of accepted materials here.

The City of Highland Park and Lake County provide the community with many resources that support recycling and help to reduce waste sent to the landfills.

Stop by the City of Highland Park Recycling Center to recycle some of the materials that cannot be recycled through the City’s curbside collection bin.

The Solid Waste Agency of Lake County (SWALCO) offers a variety of resources to help you learn where to recycle items that cannot go into your curbside bin.

Go Green Highland Park shares tips on their website on how to recycle, compost, and reduce landfill waste at home.

Meet Loop the Recycling Cart! Loop is part of the Chicago Region’s “Feed the Cart” campaign. Learn more about Loop and what can and cannot go into your curbside recycling bin.

In July 2025, the Park District partnered with Go Green Highland Park to host a Sport Swap!

The Park District partnered with Go Green Highland Park to host Highland Park’s first Sport Swap.

The Sport Swap supports sustainability by keeping sports items out of the landfill. Gently used sports equipment was dropped off during collection days to be swapped or shopped at the Sport Swap sale.

Learn more about the event here and stay tuned for next year’s swap!