Olathe is making it easier for people hoping to make a difference with the introduction of a Food Waste pilot program. Residents will be able to drop off food scraps at a Compost Facility kiosk at 1100 N. Hedge Lane rather than place it in the garbage, adjacent to the mixed recycling dropoff site. The food waste will then be composted through a partnership with Liberty-based Missouri Organic Recycling.
Olathe residents interested in the program should sign up online to receive more information. “Food is the single largest category of waste that we send to landfills,” according to the city of Olathe. Program organizers recommend keeping a container lined with a compostable bag or liner — plastic sacks are not accepted — in the kitchen for collecting scraps that can be transferred to a larger sealed bucket elsewhere, like a garage, for storage until it can be taken to the dropoff site.