Kansas City, Missouri, is launching a new composting program and expanding trash services to eliminate waste and work toward a more sustainable future. New recycling carts will be available this spring, followed soon by rolling trash carts. The announcements come as private developers explore the possibility of a potential landfill at the southeast edge of Kansas City — a project that council members and elected leaders across the region do not support.
Opposition from surrounding cities and counties spurred Kansas City to place a moratorium on landfill permits until City Manager Brian Platt completes an evaluation of the city’s trash needs. “We’re not interested in more landfills and expanding the amount of waste going to landfills,” Platt said. “We’re interested in reducing the amount of waste going to landfills and waste diversion from those landfills. Composting is one way to do it.”
Kansas City will pilot a subscription-based neighborhood composting program in the next few months, where residents can collect food waste in city-issued containers and then drop it off at sites across the city. It’ll be paid for with a $300,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture and $250,000 from the city. “The goal of this program is to decrease the food waste entering our landfills, to make compost readily accessible for urban agriculture uses, to reduce dependence on landfills and artificial fertilizers, and improve soil quality and rainwater absorption,” Sixth District council member Andrea Bough said.