-
Starting last year when rumors of the proposed project in south Kansas City began circulating, Missouri state Rep. Mike Haffner has pushed legislation meant to give surrounding communities more sway over landfills.
-
The city of Raymore has been battling a proposed landfill on its northern border for more than a year now. Mayor Kris Turnbow, along with other leaders in the area, have been pushing for legislation in the Missouri General Assembly to stop the project before it begins.
-
Republic Services is back in the hot seat with Overland Park, Shawnee, Lenexa and Prairie Village residents, with some residents going without trash pickup for weeks. Two of the cities have fined the waste management company, but none so far have severed their contracts.
-
Kansas City is on track to break its homicide record this year, and a rise in gun violence has caused another disturbing trend: Hundreds of people every year are shot and survive. They're often left with severe physical and mental injuries. Plus: Kansas City and other places in the Midwest are slow to embrace composting.
-
Food waste takes up space in landfills and produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Composting that waste can reduce climate impacts and save municipalities money on landfill fees, but concerns about bad smells and pests sometimes get in the way.
-
Kansas City began distributing new recycling carts earlier this month. But apartment buildings with seven or more units will not receive one, leaving these tenants with two options: take their recyclables to one of the city's drop-off locations, or to ask their landlord to contract with a third-party recycling company.
-
Kansas City is looking for ways to reduce the amount of trash it generates. Officials say a composting program could keep 52 tons of food waste out of landfills.
-
Despite pleas from community members who say the landfill is responsible for mysterious illnesses, federal environmental regulators said that they can’t provide a timeline for cleanup.
-
A potential new landfill in southeast Kansas City is on hold after City Council voted earlier this month to oppose it and put a moratorium on landfill permits. Now, a bill headed for the Missouri Senate would add a requirement that surrounding cities approve landfills within a mile of their borders.
-
Developers hoping to build a landfill along Route 150 in south Kansas City have hired 18 lobbyists in the hopes of stopping state legislation that could kill the project before they even formally propose their plan. “They’ve run a covert cloak and dagger-like operation,” Raymore’s mayor told a Missouri House committee in February.
-
Many of the cities and counties surrounding Kansas City have already passed legislation objecting to the construction of a new landfill on Route 150, citing threats to economic development, noise and odor pollution, and proximity to homes.
-
Surrounding cities have voiced opposition to a possible landfill in southeast Kansas City, Missouri. But the city continues to claim there are no plans for such a project. Plus: An Overland Park game café has become a home and hangout for "three generations of nerds."