Kansas Citians can now drop off food scraps for free at these 4 city composting spots

Kansas City’s first city-run food waste dropoff program launched on Monday with four dropoff sites at three locations around the city. Each site will accept food scraps and other compostable waste 24 hours a day, and will be free for the public to access. Its bins will be maintained by the local organization KC Can Compost.

“It’s really important for us to really start thinking about waste diversion as a way to think about how we deal with garbage in Kansas City,” said Melissa Kozakiewicz, an assistant city manager who has been spearheading the program.

“The goal for the first year isn’t to collect the most amount of tonnage possible. The goal for the first year is to really get people talking about composting, waste diversion, (and) really create the culture of sorting and waste diversion as we move into a successful composting program.”

Composting food scraps can prevent the production of methane, a potent greenhouse gas caused by organic material decaying in a compressed environment like a landfill. Around 28% of the trash we throw out could be composted instead, allowing nutrients to return to the soil rather than being locked in a landfill.

How to use the new dropoff bins

The bright orange dropoff bins will remain unlocked and available for public use around the clock — although this may change if the program encounters problems like pests or non-compostable materials.

You can bring all kinds of produce, including pits, peels and stems; meat, bones and other animal products; eggshells, bread products and other food waste; non-edible organic waste like cut flowers and lawn trimmings and uncoated paper products like paper towels and brown paper bags.

You can bring your scraps in an uncoated paper bag, like a brown paper lunch bag, or in a compostable plastic bag that is soft to the touch and clearly labeled as compostable. Kozakiewicz said the city is asking residents not to throw their scraps in the bins loose.

The city is not providing compostable bags to residents, so if you want to use those instead of a brown paper bag, you will need to find them online or at specialty retailers.

Where are the new dropoff sites?

The four dropoff sites will be located at:

• Ed Wolfe Garage at 1120 Oak St.

• KCMO Health Department at 2400 Troost Ave. (Harrison Street entrance)

• KCMO Parks & Recreation administrative building at 4600 E. 63rd Trafficway

• Next door at KC Water’s administrative building at 4800 E. 63rd Trafficway

The two administrative buildings are both located in Swope Park, next door to one another, so their markers overlap on the map below. Check the map to find the dropoff site nearest to you:

The city hall garage and the health department site will feature two lidded bins similar to the new recycling carts the city recently rolled out to residents. The two administrative buildings near Swope Park, which are next door to one another, will have one bin each.

The future of composting in KC

The program’s dropoff locations and policies are subject to change, Kozakiewicz told The Star. She said the program has potential to expand in the future, but she didn’t have a timeline for its growth or specific goals for its final size.

“I just want to get the program rolling first before I scale too quickly and get too big for my britches,” she said.

Several other municipal composting programs are also in the works, including community garden partnerships, a backyard personal composting initiative and a collaboration with Missouri Organic Recycling, the largest leaf and brush composter in the metro, according to Kozakiewicz.

“We’re trying to be as innovative as possible and open-minded as possible as to what might work where,” Kozakiewicz said. “We’re excited to try out a couple different types of things, see what works, and go from there with the ultimate goal of culture change as it relates to waste diversion.”

The city of Olathe recently launched a municipal compost dropoff program, which officials say has been met with enthusiasm from residents. Learn more about the different ways to compost around Kansas City here.

Do you have more questions about sustainability initiatives in Kansas City? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.