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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Trash day is going to change for thousands of Kansas City residents, and bag tags could be a thing of the past in about a year.
Supporters of the switches said it’s going to be a game-changer when it comes to keeping Kansas City clean.
Currently, people living inside Kansas City limits put trash in bags and place the bags at the curb. Recycling goes in a small, open bin next to the trash bags.
The problem is on windy days, recycling gets blown away and ends up all over the city. Animals can also rip open the plastic bags, leaving more trash to scatter in the wind. It’s a problem residents say they’ve seen for years.
“You can go around the neighborhood right now, and there’s someone who’s moved out of the house, and its thrown out there on the sidewalk,” Virginia Flowers, Vineyard Neighborhood Association, said.
“Our neighbors, if they forget to put their trash out, it sits out until maybe the next trash day. The animals tear it up and there it is.”
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said that will begin to change in about a month.
Last year, city council members approved a plan to spend $5.5 million and buy 160,000 recycling carts with lids. Part of this funding came from a $1.5 million grant.
Residents will begin receiving the free bins in the coming weeks.
“We have too much trash in Kansas City. We wanted to make sure that we were working actively to clean up more. One of the biggest problems is recycling with our open bins right now,” Lucas said.
“You see paper, everything blowing about neighborhoods every recycling day. This will help cut down on a lot of that waste that’s just going about the community, and it will allow people to recycle a lot more with this much larger bin.”
“The lid on the top is also very important to us,” City Manager Brian Platt said. “One of the challenges we’re seeing and noticing that’s causing some trash and litter on our streets is our recycling bins right now are open. When the wind blows the recycling just blows over the neighborhood.”
There are enough of the recycling carts for every home in Kansas City, but getting one of the new bins is not mandatory.
“I know a lot of people have said maybe ‘we have a small bungalow, we don’t want a bin this large.’ You can keep your old recycling bin, but they will be available for every single family residential home in Kansas City. That’s about 162,000,” Lucas said.
“We are getting them out and about. Thanks to our taxpayers who are helping fund this program. And this is just one part of our cleanup in KC.”
Another part of cleaning up the city’s trash problem is still in the works. Right now the city council hopes to provide similar trash bins for homeowners starting May 1, 2024.
“As we know, putting out trash bags on the curb as we do in Kansas City leads to dogs getting through, so many other things. As somebody who has diapers in the trash some time for my 2-year-old, I really don’t like picking it up if a dog’s gotten through before,” Lucas said.
“We have to clean this city up,” First District Councilman Kevin O’Neil said. “I mean it literally is the number one topic right behind violence in every neighborhood meeting I go to.”
Leaders said this is a part of an effort to keep the city clean, especially with major events headed our way.
“We want to make sure that as we’re doing big events in Kansas City — the NFL Draft, the World Cup in 2026, and events large and small in between — that we are building a cleaner city,” Lucas said.
“I think it would benefit our trash here. We would love to put them in there, put our trash in those bins and roll them out,” Flowers said.
The trash bins are expensive, according to Lucas, which is part of the reason why they are not available at the same time as the new recycling carts.
Lucas also hopes to expand the leaves and brush pick-up program and create a new program for household compost.
More information on how people can request the recycling carts will be released soon.
The problem for KC was not that the bins didn't have lids. It's that KC doesn't accept glass in recycling, so the bins are really light weight and get completely blown over by wind. Just making a taller bin with a lid doesn't solve that problem. Maybe the bins they are deploying are weighted and solve for this in other ways, but just looking at it in the video it seems like the same thing we had when I lived in San Diego 20 years ago. Of course, in San Diego they accepted glass and rarely have high enough winds to blow anything over. [Reply]
Originally Posted by displacedinMN:
If it has a recycle symbol on it. Recycle it.
Objects smaller than your fist do not recycle well
when in doubt, throw it out (trash)
It depends on what your city takes. Some cities only take plastics with a 1 or 2 on it, and some take all 7. If done properly, almost everything is either recyclable or compostable. I only have to throw trash out every 6-8 weeks, but my recycle bin is full every week. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi:
I’m pretty sure I’ve read the majority of recycling ends up in landfills anyway
I think its a big racket, people think they are saving the earth and make them feel better about themselves. Meanwhile it all gets dumped in the same place. [Reply]
I use AAA Trash. I have a red bin for trash and a yellow bin for recycling. I have watched them dump both bins in the same truck for several weeks now...lol. They ain't recycling anything! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Nixhex:
I use AAA Trash. I have a red bin for trash and a yellow bin for recycling. I have watched them dump both bins in the same truck for several weeks now...lol. They ain't recycling anything!
Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi:
I’m pretty sure I’ve read the majority of recycling ends up in landfills anyway
I read an article that said people throw so much shit in the recycle bins, sometimes entire loads can be rejected, and a lot gets dumped because of grease on pizza boxes and what not.... things people think can be recycle, but cannot. So like everything else, people are idiots and we can't have nice things.
Also read an article the other day about how the mountain of plastic in the Pacific Ocean has created new ecosystems for crabs and things that otherwise couldn't survive in the middle of the ocean.
Originally Posted by Bearcat:
I read an article that said people throw so much shit in the recycle bins, sometimes entire loads can be rejected, and a lot gets dumped because of grease on pizza boxes and what not.... things people think can be recycle, but cannot. So like everything else, people are idiots and we can't have nice things.
Also read an article the other day about how the mountain of plastic in the Pacific Ocean has created new ecosystems for crabs and things that otherwise couldn't survive in the middle of the ocean.
This is very true. It definitely helps if you rinse off what you are recycling. It also helps a lot if you do something as simple as removing the foil lid off something like a yogurt container. It really takes minimal effort to make a pretty big difference in the landfills, but most people really won’t do it for whatever reason. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi:
I’m pretty sure I’ve read the majority of recycling ends up in landfills anyway
Truth.
We were a client fore LaFarge mining rock quarry and cement plant in Sugar Creek MO. A huge landfill was right next to it off 291 Highway. We would see the recycle trucks lined up with the garbage trucks dumping. None dares report unless you like sleeping with the fishes. They may find your body caught in a snag or up against a dike somewhere down stream on the Mighty Mo. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Spott:
This is very true. It definitely helps if you rinse off what you are recycling. It also helps a lot if you do something as simple as removing the foil lid off something like a yogurt container. It really takes minimal effort to make a pretty big difference in the landfills, but most people really won’t do it for whatever reason.
And these days to help bridge the gap, it's as easy as putting a QR code on the bins to educate people... but of course, people on both ends have to give a shit, too. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bearcat:
I read an article that said people throw so much shit in the recycle bins, sometimes entire loads can be rejected, and a lot gets dumped because of grease on pizza boxes and what not.... things people think can be recycle, but cannot. So like everything else, people are idiots and we can't have nice things.
So, we are all supposed to be recycling experts? :-)
Please do provide a really nice of what I can and cannot recycle. I think most people are TRYING to do the right thing.
Fuck the waste companies it TOO much recycles come back. :-) [Reply]
Waste management services generally do a poor job of educating consumers. I just recently learned that it is preferable to recycle plastic bottles with the cap on. The caps are made from polypropylene or HDPE which are among the more valuable plastics in the recycle stream. Attaching them to the bottle helps assure the small cap doesn’t get lost along the way. At the recycling plant, the bottles and caps are shredded and the two materials are separated by density differences. Also, don’t flatten plastic bottles, because it makes the sorting process less efficient. [Reply]
Originally Posted by scho63:
The rest of the country have been doing this for the last 10 years.
Not true been all over this country many cities and towns still use trash bags or barrels, not bins.
We have coyotes in the cities plus dogs but the biggest pest that tears into the bags are Crows. Fuckers are smart they know the days the trash is put out in the neighborhood. They flock in those areas you will hear them calling wait for the right moment. Don't fuck with crows they remember you and will have a life long grudge against you.
If you're smart you keep a solution of water and Clorox in a spray bottle. Spray the bag and animals or crows will not disturb it. [Reply]
Gladstone has the bins for recycling and Trash for a while. On windy days they blow over on the North-South streets all the time leaving a mess. [Reply]
Our former trash company not only gave us the bins, they also let you put flattened out cardboard under the them. Hoo boy, those were a real treat on windy days. [Reply]
