By Jenny Johnston
The City of Kansas
City provides free curbside recycling each week. In
order to increase the rate of recycling, the City recently began an outreach
program to certain neighborhoods. All neighborhoods in Briarcliff on the east
side of 169 Hwy are in the targeted region.
Northland Neighborhoods Inc. held an information workshop
for all neighborhoods to teach what materials can and cannot be recycled, and
additional information about the recycling program. Sustainability Manager
Tonya Davis gave helpful insight into certain rules and regulations about
curbside recycling that people may not already know.
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Even though your neighbors have blue recycling bins,
you don’t need to use the standard blue recycling bin for your recyclable
materials. You can simply use a tote bag or cardboard box and the materials
will still get picked up.
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You don’t have to sort your recyclables in each bin.
Feel free to mix and mingle paper, cardboard, plastic, newspaper and any other
recyclables together.
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If you are elderly and are unable to get your bins to
the curb, you can call 3-1-1 to request a disability stop. Town and Country
will pick up your bins at your front door or garage door.
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The trucks are commingled so the trash and recycling
are dumped in the same truck, but are separated inside.
In addition, the City is offering an incentive to
neighborhoods with high recycling participation rates. If 70 percent of
residents in a neighborhood put out recycling bins, the City will give that
neighborhood a free roll-off dumpster. They will drop it off at the
neighborhood leader’s discretion at any convenient place within their
neighborhood limits. The dumpster can be used separately for yard waste, bulky
items or anything else the neighborhood chooses.
Because Briarcliff is one of the targeted areas, the City
will be doing a sweep of the area starting October 1st to record the
recycling rates in our community. They will do this in a three week rotation
and document each house that is taking advantage of curbside recycling. If you
are not recycling, the City will actually come by your house and have a
one-on-one meeting with you to figure out why you aren’t participating and to
encourage you to recycle. The City has done this in previous neighborhoods and
found this method to be successful.
“Whenever we meet with residents who don’t recycle, we are
finding out that they aren’t doing it because they either don’t have a bin,
they didn’t know when their pick up day was, or they didn’t realize it was a
big deal,” said Tonya. “There is so much room for improvement and all we need
to do is just give them a little nudge. Every home that recycles diverts 300
tons of waste from landfills. It’s important for residents to understand this
and realize that recycling can go a long way.”
For trash or recycling questions, information about the
targeted recycling program, or to find out your neighborhood’s recycling
participation rate, please call Tonya Davis at (816) 812-3892 or email her at tonya.davis@kcmo.org.
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