Cook County has recycled more than 1 million pounds of documents dating back to the 1960s in an effort to clear out storage space.
The purge has been underway for a year-and-a-half, and it’s even generating some money.
Instead of sending the paper to a landfill, the county sold it for recycling, earning more than $20,000.
It has also freed up 71,000 cubic feet of space in county offices and facilities.
The documents included old financial spreadsheets, dated legal journals and files from court cases that were settled long ago. There was even multiple years’ worth of dog bite incident reports.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said that whether it was due to “forgetfulness, inertia or neglect,” it had become obvious the county had a “paper problem.”