Posted inEnvironment, Local Government

KC residents will soon be able to throw away twice as much garbage. Will that help or hinder efforts to recycle?

Kansas City is about to bottle up its trash better. Bins will replace bags, keeping animals out of the garbage. But the convenience of a lidded trash bin may come at a cost for the environment.

Kansas City set a goal in 2009 to divert 80% of its waste from landfills. Now 15 years later, the city is halfway there. The bins, with their bigger capacity, threaten to reverse that progress. And it might still take more effort to keep trash safe from raccoons.

Posted inEnvironment, State Government

South KC landfill opponents prepare for a potential Senate battle, after a win in the Missouri House

Takeaways: When Rick Meyers started knocking on neighbors’ doors to talk about a proposed landfill about a mile from his home, he didn’t appreciate the scale his campaign would take on.  The door-knocking turned into an email list. That begat a Facebook group with nearly 5,000 members. Then a political action committee came online to […]

Posted inEnvironment, Local Government, State Government

Suburbs braced to use the legislature to block a south Kansas City landfill

Takeaways: Subdivisions, restaurants and retail shops pop up around Lee’s Summit and Raymore amid rising property values as single-family homes spread across what was farmland just a few years ago. But residents say a proposed 430-acre landfill could threaten that growth. And they’ve rallied together to block it — raising money and deploying lobbyists to […]

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