Pedestrians and business owners on Independence Avenue will soon benefit from the installation of additional recycling bins following a grant awarded to the Independence Avenue Community Improvement District (CID). The grant, the second of its kind that the CID has received from the Mid American Regional Council (MARC) Solid Waste Management District, will help purchase approximately 20 more recycling bins.
Grant Administrator Nadja Karpilow, who is an Environmental Planner for the Solid Waste Management District, explained that the grant can be used for waste reduction, reuse and recycling projects. “We have an open call for grants every year, and the CID actually got a grant from us, I believe it was 2018, to put out the containers that are there now,” Karpilow said. “They submitted an application for this year to add to that program, to add more containers.”
The CID has permission from the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) and the Public Works Department to install them along Independence Avenue, and is working with these departments to determine where to place the new containers. “I have really encouraged them to make sure that they are placed next to an existing trash can, or frankly, if there isn’t a trash can to add a trash can,” Karpilow said. “It’s just going to get used as trash if it’s not next to one.”
Karpilow believes that the biggest challenge with public recycling is contamination from trash. She said it has been difficult on Independence Avenue with the containers that are there. “It’s been tough,” Karpilow said. “With the containers that are there, they get contaminated, and I don’t know that people are learning about recycling, to be completely honest with you. When it’s paired with a trash can I think it goes into people’s brains that they have a choice.”
The CID is using the $10,923 in grant funding to buy and install 20 recycling bins, and graphics on all of the new and existing recycling bins, said CID Director of Operations Mike Spady, who is also the Economic Development Ambassador for the Northeast Chamber of Commerce.