Ambitious Curbside Recycling Program Proposed in KC

The city of Kansas City is hoping that a new program will help spur the city with a population of roughly 500,000 to greater recycling levels. The project, introduced by Kansas City Councilman James Rowland, it is hoped, will reduce the amount of solid waste by 25 percent.

While the proposal is still in the discussion stage, Rowland hopes that it will be adopted as part of the city’s overall budget, scheduled to be complete by the end of March. The program would then begin Sept. 1.

If the RecycleFIRST project is adopted, it would be a victory for curbside recycling proponents after city residents voted down three other recycling-related proposals over the past decade.

The new proposal would not involve an extra cost to homeowners and would provide a financial incentive to recycle, officials said.

Here is how the new program -- dubbed RecycleFIRST -- would work, according to Rowland:

• Each household would be issued 120 stickers over a 12-month period.

• Ten stickers could be used to purchase a recycling bin. Or a person could purchase the bin with $10 and save the stickers for trash.

The bin would be placed at the curb every other week and would hold newspapers, plastic, cardboard, cereal boxes, office paper, tin, aluminum -- just about every type of recyclable item except glass.

• Each trash bag would require one sticker.

• Leaf/brush bags would require one sticker.

• Each truckload of yard waste taken to a drop-off center would require 10 stickers.

• Each bulky item pickup would require 20 stickers.

The stickers would be mailed with city water bills. People needing extra stickers could purchase them for $1 each, although the details of where to buy them have not been worked out.

There also would be so-called amnesty weeks. During the week following Christmas, households could put out 10 bags of trash without stickers. Every neighborhood also could have a "clean sweep" event, for pickup of bulky items and extra trash.

Even if Kansas City adopts the new curbside recycling program it will still keep its four recycling drop-off centers.

According to local press reports, Rowland said he thought the program could work within the existing budget because the cost of recycling had fallen in the last decade, after factoring in inflation, while the cost of hauling trash to landfills had risen.

"We're containing the cost that's going up," he said.

Stufflebean estimated the cost of RecycleFIRST in the first year would be $14.8 million, including $1.3 million from the city's budget reserve. That is $1 million less than this year's budget.