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Carol Stream recycling center to close

A Texas-based company is preparing to close a recycling plant that has operated for more than 25 years in Carol Stream.

Waste Management is shuttering the DuPage County Recycling Center along Center Avenue, west of Schmale Road and near the village's border with Glendale Heights. The company leased the 40,000-square-foot plant from a real estate firm.

The last day for dropping off recyclable materials is Friday, said Lisa Disbrow, the company's Illinois spokeswoman.

"It was a business decision to close the facility on the part of Waste Management," Disbrow said.

The company extended offers to the plant's employees to move to other locations. Some workers have chosen to stay with Waste Management and others have chosen to pursue other options, Disbrow said.

DuPage County opened the recycling center in an industrial park in 1991. County board members approved the sale of the plant in 2002 for $3.25 million to a company that was then called Ridge Realty Group.

Property tax bills on the building were addressed earlier this year to Ridge Carol Stream LLC in Chicago, according to county records.

The pending sale 15 years ago stirred concerns from nearby Glendale Heights residents that the center would be converted into a waste transfer station. At the time, Glendale Heights Village President Linda Jackson led a push against such a project that residents feared would worsen traffic and cause odor.

A group called RATS - Residents Against Waste Transfer Stations - also formed in protest.

But the county eventually approved the deal with Ridge. There is no deed restriction mandating the property's use as a recycling center, a county spokesperson said Wednesday.

The future of the roughly 11-acre site is now unclear. Tom Farace, Carol Stream's planning and economic development manager, said the village has not received any plans for the property.

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