garbage

Kansas City Council member Crispin Rea is sponsoring an ordinance to increase penalties for illegal dumping, which regularly affects vacant lots and the city's Land Bank properties.

The law targets a plan by KC Recycle & Waste Solutions to build a landfill at Kansas City’s southern border. For more than a year, Raymore and other suburban municipalities have pushed legislation designed to block the landfill, arguing it would hurt the environment, property values and residents’ health.

With bigger trash carts, Kansas City is trying to put a lid on litter and dumping problems. But with more trash than ever going to landfills, the city has a long way to go in educating people about recycling and composting.

After a 270-acre landfill was proposed for a site just south of Missouri Highway 150 in Kansas City, communities rallied against it. The bill now awaiting Gov. Mike Parson’s signature would prohibit a landfill from being built in Kansas City within a mile of another municipality unless that adjoining city approves the project.

The Raymore City Council voted unanimously to approve a settlement over the controversial landfill, that would pay developers $3.73 million if they scrap the project. The proposed site is less than a mile from the Creekmoor golf course community, with homes priced as high as $1 million.

The city of Merriam is one of the latest local beneficiaries of a program in which plastic bags are recycled as free park benches. To make it happen, the city collected about 1,000 pounds of plastic bags in just four months.

Residents along the south edge of Kansas City have organized in opposition to a proposed 430-acre landfill that they say could erode their property values and threaten their health. A newly created political action committee is now raising money to lobby Missouri legislators.

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.

The yearlong moratorium comes after residents of south Kansas City and surrounding towns voiced opposition to a new landfill proposal, which would have been built across from a school and residential area.

Las conversaciones sobre un posible vertedero en el sur de Kansas City están haciendo que la ciudad reevalúe sus necesidades en cuanto a la basura. Aunque en los próximos años la ciudad no corre el riesgo de quedarse sin espacio, los expertos dicen que no es demasiado temprano para empezar a explorar opciones.

Whispers of a new landfill in south Kansas City have sparked a fierce opposition campaign from nearby cities and residents. But the controversy also renewed interest in where this rapidly growing city will store its waste in the years to come. Plus: A Kansas City woodworker is creating chess boards based on his hometown's iconic skyline.

Talk of a potential landfill in south Kansas City is making the city reevaluate its trash needs. While the city doesn't risk running out of space in the next few years, experts say it's not too soon to start exploring options.