KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A new study found there's still time to decide on locations for future landfills in the Kansas City area.
We all have trash and it all has to go somewhere.
VOICE FOR EVERYONE | Share your voice with KSHB 41's Grant Stephens
For months, people in south Kansas City and Raymore have been saying plans to build a landfill in that area are no good.
Hannah Ammon says the proposal stinks.
"You close on a house and then three months later it's, 'Hey, there's this rumor that a landfill is going in. And you're thinking, 'What did I just do? What just happened?' Ammon said. "[I'm] directly downwind. So all summer long I would have that lovely southwest wind blowing all of that methane gas and toxic air right into my home."
The landfill study was commissioned by the Mid-America Regional Council and done by Burns and McDonnell.
It clarifies the issue of landfills isn't just a south Kansas City problem. All of the metro's trash gets dumped into the same handful of places.
The study shows that worst case, existing landfills won't fill up for another 19 years. The best case puts that estimate at nearly 40 years.
"The developer, one of their key points in the past is there's a dire need and their goal is to fill that need," Ammon said. "And so the MARC study is saying that even on the low end, there's time for proper planning."
The study took into consideration that some landfills will fill up and collection companies or municipalities will have to transfer trash to ones that aren't full.
Kit Starr owns a trash transfer facility.
He says four decades until landfills are full may not be accurate, especially if the metro area starts recycling more often and landfills are allowed to expand beyond what the study considered.
"You add decades," Starr said.
MARC says the study was not about a particular landfill site.
You can view the full report here.
