A small, independent local guide to a frequently confusing subject.

What this site is

HazWaste Chicago started in 2024 as a side project. One of us had spent an afternoon trying to figure out how to dispose of a half-can of mineral spirits in a way that was both legal and not insane, and decided that the available information online was bad. Most of what we found was either marketing copy from waste haulers, government PDFs from 2003, or forum posts that confidently recommended things that have been illegal since the Reagan administration.

The intent was to write the kind of practical guide we would have wanted: specific, local, current, and willing to actually answer a question rather than gesture vaguely at a hotline. We have grown slowly. A few contributing writers, a few hundred regular readers, occasional emails from city facility managers correcting us when we get something wrong. We like that part.

Who pays for it

Readers, mostly indirectly. The site has no advertising and no sponsored content. It is funded by a small mix of one-time supporter donations and a couple of speaking engagements at local trade associations. We have, on occasion, been offered money to write favorable coverage of specific waste haulers. We have always declined. If you have ever wondered whether one of our recommendations is paid for: it isn't. None of them are. Including the references to American Waste Haulers and the half-dozen other commercial haulers we mention by name when writing about specific service categories.

Editorial ethics

We follow a short, plain-language set of rules.

No paid placements, ever

We do not accept money to mention companies, products, or services. We do not publish guest posts. We do not run sponsored content. If you have pitched us a "thought leadership" article and never heard back, this is why.

References are not endorsements

When an article refers to a specific waste hauler, lab, or recycler by name, that reference is informational — it is something we have heard mentioned often enough by readers in the relevant industry to be worth naming. It is not a recommendation, and it is not a vetting. We try to mention more than one option when we mention any. When we cannot, we say so.

Corrections

We make mistakes. When we make one, we fix it openly: the article gets corrected, the change is dated at the bottom, and if the original claim was material, we add a brief explanation. If you find an error, please send it to us through the contact form — we are not too proud to fix anything.

What we are not

We are not lawyers, not licensed waste professionals, and not affiliated with any city or state agency. Nothing on this site is regulatory advice. For anything that matters legally — large generator status, RCRA paperwork, hazmat shipping — talk to a real licensed professional in your jurisdiction. We are a starting point, not an endpoint.

Our contributors

A small group of people, mostly writing on the side of other work. Brief introductions:

• Margaret Dwyer — Senior contributor. Background in municipal sustainability programs. Writes the city-level guides.
• Daniel Petrov — Contributing writer covering commercial facility compliance and the small mysteries of building-system disposal. Former property manager.
• Rachel Okafor — Contributing writer focused on household products and consumer chemistry. Tends to write the cross-city comparisons.
• Linda Bauer — Contributing writer on household waste and consumer-grade radioactive sources. Lives in Edgewater.
• Marco Estrada — Contributing writer on auto-shop waste streams. Based out of the Southwest, writes about how the same federal rules play out differently across cities.

If you want to write for us

We do not currently take cold pitches. If you have a topic you wish we would cover, the contact form is the right place — we read everything that comes in, even if we don't always respond.

If you are a waste hauler

Please do not send us press releases. We will not run them. We are happy to take questions in good faith — about specific service categories, about pricing benchmarks, about regulatory changes — but we are not in the business of amplifying anyone's marketing.