KANSAS CITY, Mo. — People living in Kansas City, Missouri, need to put their trash on the curb by 7 a.m. on the morning of their trash day because the city is taking over trash collection and will be starting sooner than previous contractors.
“We don’t have a crystal ball to know exactly what time we’ll be at every house, but certainly we’re going to be getting things done a little faster than what the contractors had been doing,” said Michael Shaw, the city’s Solid Waste Division manager.
The city did not renew contracts with companies that collected trash from about two-thirds of houses in the city. Now city employees will collect trash from all 160,000 homes in the city, instead of just the one-third of homes it was responsible for previously.
Shaw said the switch is to guarantee “on time and on task” collection. The city received complaints from residents in the north and south parts of the city about their trash going uncollected.
Shaw said the switch will save the city money, about $20 million over the next 10 years. The city hired roughly 75 new employees to handle the additional trash collection service. It also bought 30 new trash trucks.
“All trucks are compressed natural gas trucks so they’re clean energy trucks, so they’ll really help on red alert ozone days," Shaw said. "They also reduce particulate matter and improve air quality."
Shaw wanted to remind people to focus on recycling.
“When you’re out there putting your recycling out, don’t put Styrofoam in there, don’t put plastic bags in the recycling bin and don’t put glass in the recycle bin,” he said. “Take advantage of this time to recycle more and more importantly recycle better."
For more information on recycling, click here.
