How do I get a new recycling bin/cart in Kansas City?
They roll out starting in May 2023 and they'll be delivered to you for free. Covered trash bins are.. further down the line.
KC gets new recycling carts as soon as May. // Courtesy Kansas City Public Works
Soon, very soon, we can bid farewell to the blight of our sidewalks, marked by the city’s flimsy recycling boxes—known for their ability to spill their contents into your yard on the back of the slightest breeze or famous for migrating just far enough into the street to becoming a driving hazard. A new day is upon us as the city preps to roll out new recycling carts with lids, in a program that launches this spring.
All households currently getting city curbside service will automatically have these carts distributed to them, beginning in May and taking at least a few months to complete full transition—as this will impact more than 160k individual homes.
City graphic.
City government recently passed a new budget that assigned several million in a new initiative for the addition of much-requested trash carts, but no one at public works is committing to us seeing those until at least later this year.
Public Works Director Michael Shaw said during a recent press conference that he hoped the new recycling bins will reverse a downward trend in recycling from the people of KC as waste headed directly to landfills is at a new high.
Shaw believes the greatly expanded capacity of the new bins will encourage folks to recycle more, while labeling on the lids themselves will remind citizens what is—and notably isn’t—recyclable.
The new 64 gallon recyclers will be delivered for free, and each unit will be registered to an address. These boxes are property of the city and will use an embedded RFID chip to track lost or damaged carts.
Glass is, unfortunately, still something you’ll need to take care of elsewhere, as the city does not accept it. I guess we’ll still see you at the gigantic purple dumpsters where he chuck bottles at each other.
