Congratulations are in order. The Unified Government’s (UG) Solid Waste team has achieved something once thought impossible. They have moved at least one part of Kansas City, Kansas into a modern trash and recycling system. Starting August 1, residents in a pilot area will use standardized 96-gallon carts, just like practically every other community in the state has been doing for years.
And yet, some neighbors are already clutching their pearls. The horror of having to roll a cart to the curb once a week. The tragedy of not being able to pile ten contractor bags, a broken recliner, and last weekend’s basement clean-out into a leaning tower of refuse for the crews to deal with.
Let’s be honest: KCK has been the last holdout in Kansas still allowing unlimited set-outs, and it shows. Crews fall behind because they are dragging away mountains of junk, leaving collection routes running late and recycling mixed in with trash. If you have ever wondered why service is inconsistent, look no further than the system we have stubbornly clung to.
By contrast, cart-based service reduces litter, speeds up collection, and gives residents a cleaner, more reliable experience. It is not rocket science. It is just the way waste service works everywhere else.
So let’s applaud the UG for pushing this program forward, even if some residents are kicking and screaming into the future. Kansas City, Kansas deserves a cleaner, more efficient system, and rolling a cart to the curb once a week is not exactly a heavy lift.
And for anyone insisting this will not work because KCK is somehow “special” (granted, some residents and elected officials may be), remember it already works in Shawnee, Lenexa, Overland Park, Bonner Springs, Edwardsville, Kansas City, Missouri, and just about every other city in America. The only thing unique about KCK’s trash system was how outdated it was. It will work here too.
2 Comments
Your opinion is, to put it simply, garbage.
How is it rolling into the future when people are no longer allowed to discard anything that cannot fit into your one given trash can? Oh yeah, it will be like KCMO where they go and dump loads of garbage and mattresses along roadsides because of this typical government overreach controlling what one is allowed to set out on the curb for collection.
How is that working out for them? Blight, beautiful blight and litter strewn woods and creeks. No one is complaining about having to roll a garbage can to the curb, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard about not wanting to DOWNGRADE our waste collection services. So again I say, your opinion is trash, as is your attitude towards other residents with your condescending and degrading words.
Thanks for weighing in! KCMO is one example, but most surrounding cities use carts without the region turning into a mattress fort. Overland Park, Olathe, Shawnee, Lenexa, Mission, Merriam, Bonner, and Edwardsville all run cart systems without the chaos you described.
KCK already deals with illegal dumping today, even with unlimited setouts, so the issue is clearly bigger than what fits in a bin. Good policy and follow-through matter more than container size.
And yes, the editorial poked fun at how strongly people react to change. That was the point. Some folks lean into updates, others push back, and that’s exactly what opinion pages exist for. Thanks for jumping into the conversation!