KANSAS CITY METRO — A local trash service now wants to begin picking up your recyclables every other week, but not everyone is on board.
Many people like the convenience of getting their recycling picked up every week, and they don’t want that to change. But Waste Management said it’s too expensive right now to keep picking it up every week. They stated they may have to quit offering service to some cities if things don’t change.
“The processing costs for recycling have gone up dramatically based on some unprecedented changes that of happened in the market,” Waste Management recycling manager John Blessing said.
Two years ago, China pulled out of the international recycling market. Their plants were overwhelmed, so the National Sword policy banned importing recycled material. Now, the value of all the recyclable material is 50% lower than it was a few years ago.
By giving their customers bigger bins and picking up the recycling every other week, they will save money by using less gas, less wear and tear on their vehicles and less labor costs. But many people don’t want to change.
Before that, Waste Management sold much of their recyclable materials to China. Now, they have to look domestically, where demand is not nearly as high. They are also picking up more recyclables than in years past as more people order online and recycle their boxes. Basically, they’re losing too much money right now, and they need to do something about it.
“There are issues around cart size, where to store those carts, get those carts to the curb,” Lenexa community development director Scott McCullough said. “Truck traffic on residential streets is an impact as well, and so there really are pros and cons to this issue that need to be studied and reviewed.”
Blessing said every other week pickup is common, and it’s even used in the metro already.
“Every other week recycling is time tested,” he said. “It’s working successfully another parts of the country and even here locally, and our neighbor the City Of Olathe who’s had this program in place for over a decade, and post the highest diversion rates in the entire metropolitan area.”
Overland Park and Lenexa officials are currently studying this issue to possibly change their city codes to allow every other week recycling. In Lenexa, they are asking residents to fill out a survey on this topic. It ends on Feb. 12, so go to Lenexa’s website to make your voice heard.
Waste Management hopes these cities will allow this. They said a customer can always sign up with another trash service if they want to keep their every week recycling.
