Kristy Hecke is the Solid Waste Manager for McHenry County, serving in the McHenry County Department of Health – Division of Environmental Health for 21 years.

Kristy oversees several designated areas for successful franchised solid waste removal services for approximately 7700 unincorporated residential households. She holds regular meetings for the local Solid Waste Advisory Committee. Kristy brings enforcement experience in addition to an established and continued development of partnerships with the business community, solid waste hauler industry, institutions, service and professional organizations, and governmental entities to identify solid waste trends that are environmentally sound and economically viable and expand the outreach potential for solid waste educational efforts to provide consistent and improved overall solid waste management.

Kristy is seeking re-election to a second term on the IRA Board. Her stated goals in board service is to see IRA proactive with Illinois EPA, material recovery facilities in Illinois and municipal waste haulers in the creation of a residential sector recycling basics education/informational piece for message consistency regarding curbside collection programs; improve the quality of recyclable materials prior to their arrival at the MRF, thus improving their likelihood of being recycled; improve electronics recycling options in Illinois; develop and maintain a listing of available recycling resources similar to the Illinois EPA’s Industrial Material Exchange; maintain positive relationships with SWANA and ILCSWMA, and work towards the recommendations per the Task Force on the Advancement of Materials Recycling.