Ecology Action Center

The Town of Normal should revisit the recycling program for apartment complexes and multi-unit developments, according to Mayor Chris Koos.

The Ecology Action Center in Normal will get nearly $500,000 in federal grant money to grow more trees and study climate change vulnerabilities in the Bloomington-Normal community.

The Normal Town Council’s unanimous vote approves the final plat for about half of Weldon Reserve’s 26-acre development, making way for 40 single-family lots, and four attached-home lots.

McLean County improved its recycling rate significantly last year, but lost ground on its goals. The Ecology Action Center in Normal reports the county recycling rate rose to nearly 47% of all solid waste produced last year, up from about 44% in 2021.

Six of the 10 largest emitters of methane in Illinois are landfills, according to the analysis by Industrious Labs, a climate solutions advocacy group. Illinois ranks 9th in the list of states with the highest landfill emissions.

In the latest installment of WGLT's series Welcome Home, Ecology Action Center Executive Director Michael Brown explains how the nonprofit helped build a recycling program in Bloomington-Normal.

The governor has appointed Memuna Lee from Bloomington-Normal to Illinois' new Clean Energy Jobs and Justice Fund board. That’s a nonprofit green bank providing loans and other assistance for renewable energy projects being done by minority-owned businesses or in low-income and disadvantaged communities.

Tree Corps looks beyond short-term, feel-good projects. Instead, it works to build an army of community volunteers, and help them plant 100,000 trees across McLean County within a decade. That’s being tackled as 10,000 trees a year, for at least 10 years in a row.

Ecology Action Center is warning McLean County homeowners to be wary of door-to-door energy salespeople as the weather begins to warm up.

The 2022 Normal property tax levy will be the same as last year’s — nearly $13.4 million dollars, after the town council adopted it Monday night. Also at the meeting, the council rebuked member Stan Nord for an email he sent to town staff.