Environment and Sustainability

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Department Mission

The Cook County Department of Environment and Sustainability works to improve the quality of the environment for all residents of Cook County.

Mandates and Key Activities

  • Enforce Cook County Environmental Control Ordinance
  • Implement Illinois EPA cooperative agreements on pollution control, inspection
  • Administer U.S. EPA, DOE and other grant agreements
  • Permit and inspect industrial and commercial fuel-burning equipment, asbestos abatement, demolition, solid waste facilities, open burning and facilities that store hazardous chemicals for environmental compliance
  • Investigate citizen complaints and ordinance violations
  • Reduce waste in energy, materials and water
  • Prepare solid waste plan for suburban Cook County
  • Monitor air quality for the U.S. EPA

 

Announcements

Certificate of Operation (COO)

Annual payment for a Certificate of Operation (COO) is required if your commercial or industrial facility operates any fuel-burning equipment, process equipment, storage tanks or air pollution control devices. All payments for your COO shall be submitted through the electronic permit processing portal. Further details can be found here

Please contact certificateofoperations@cookcountyil.gov or call at (312) 603-8200, option 3 if you have any questions. 

Cook County Center for Hard to Recycle Materials

This is a permanent recycling drop-off facility available to Cook County residents that helps divert millions of pounds of waste and other hard-to-recycle items from regional landfills and water systems. More information about materials accepted at the CHaRM Center can be found here

Permits

You may apply for permits online – see the menu at right on this page. If you need help, email contact information can be found on each page. 

Environmental Complaints

You may register environmental complaints by emailing environment@cookcountyil.gov or calling 312-603-8200, option 5.

Thank you for your patience.

Sustainability in Cook County

Have you seen Cook County’s sustainability webpage
At Cook County we want to lead by example. At the site you’ll find information about County projects to lower our environmental footprint and our costs.

Press and Media Inquiries:

Natalia Derevyanny 
natalia.derevyanny@cookcountyil.gov

Location Title
Main Office
Location Phone
Location Hours
Sunday: Closed
Monday: 8:30 am-4:30 pm
Tuesday: 8:30 am-4:30 pm
Wednesday: 8:30 am-4:30 pm
Thursday: 8:30 am-4:30 pm
Friday: 8:30 am-4:30 pm
Saturday: Closed
Location Title
Air Monitoring Laboratory
Location Phone
Location Hours
Sunday: Closed
Monday: 8:30 am-4:30 pm
Tuesday: 8:30 am-4:30 pm
Wednesday: 8:30 am-4:30 pm
Thursday: 8:30 am-4:30 pm
Friday: 8:30 am-4:30 pm
Saturday: Closed

Agency Head

Deborah Stone, Director and Chief Sustainability Officer