Kansas City, Missouri, to deliver 162,000 recycling carts to residents

A public-private partnership has enabled Kansas City, Missouri, to deliver 162,000 recycling carts to transition the city to cart-based recycling collection services.

Residents are receiving 65-gallon carts, which will allow them to participate in the city’s curbside recycling program. The city’s current opt-in recycling system requires residents to purchase or use their own recycling bins, which can be no larger than 32-gallon bins.

The 65-gallon recycling carts have been funded in part by a $1.5 million public-private collaborative project involving the city, Washington-based The Recycling Partnership, the Washington-based American Beverage Association (ABA) and Midland, Michigan-based Dow.

According to a news release from The Recycling Partnership, Dow donated 1.2 million pounds of plastic resin to produce these 65-gallon recycling carts, The Recycling Partnership provided technical support for the recycling program and ABA’s Every Bottle Back initiative along with the Missouri Beverage Association helped to fund this program.

“Public-private partnerships like this are critical for improving city infrastructure, especially in a community as large as Kansas City, Missouri, and the mixture of grants, investment and donation of plastic resin is key to making the project possible,” says Cody Marshall, chief system optimization officer at The Recycling Partnership. “This is The Recycling Partnership’s largest cart grant project in the Midwest and the second largest cart grant to date. Cart-based collection is a key foundation for any community’s solid waste program, makes it easier for residents to recycle, often increases the amount of recyclable material collected and helps to move Kansas City towards a fully carted system.”

Sally Hargis, president of the Missouri Beverage Association, adds that beverage companies play an important role in helping to improve recycling within communities.

“It is a priority of the Missouri Beverage Association to ensure our 100 percent recyclable bottles and cans are remade rather than wasted in landfills or ending up in nature,” she says.

ABA’s Every Bottle Back initiative launched in 2019, helping to invest in recycling infrastructure and education to increase the collection of plastic bottles and cans. The initiative brings together the Coca-Cola Co., Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo along with the World Wildlife Fund, Closed Loop Partners and The Recycling Partnership to support a circular economy for plastics. The Recycling Partnership reports that a separate Every Bottle Back investment made in collaboration with Closed Loop Partners, ABA and the Missouri Beverage Association brings the total contribution from the beverage industry to Kansas City to $3 million to modernize recycling infrastructure.

According to The Recycling Partnership, the city also is launching a recycling education campaign for its residents. Many residents have received postcards announcing that carts will be delivered starting May 1, and cart distribution will continue throughout the summer. Residents also will receive a postcard to inform hem of when cart distribution is set to begin in their area.

Rehrig’s De Soto, Kansas, facility is producing the carts for Kansas City, which feature plastic resin from Dow. “Sustainability is at the core of Rehrig Pacific and our ability to manufacture carts from postconsumer content provides an optimized and circular solution to Kansas City,” says Rebecca Vara, vice president of environmental solutions at Rehrig Pacific, which is headquartered in Los Angeles.

Ritika Kalia, North America marketing and sustainability senior director at Dow, says Dow chose to support this initiative in order to serve residents in Kansas City as well as help Dow to achieve its 2030 sustainability targets.

According to The Recycling Partnership, Kansas City anticipates the delivery of these carts to be completed by August.

“We heard Kansas Citians’ request loud and clear, and Kansas City government is proud to deliver new lidded recycling carts, ensuring we can become a cleaner and more environmentally conscious community, while diverting thousands of pounds of waste away from landfills,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas says. “These improved recycling carts are yet another step toward achieving a clean and green city and reaching our goal of climate neutrality citywide by 2040.”