Olathe residents are saving the Earth one recyclable at a time, according to a press release the city issued last week, and various news reports. Residents are diverting 41.1 percent of their waste to recycling. That’s above the national average.
News reports touted the wonders of recycling: “Recyclers in the area, consider yourself schooled,” the Kansas City Star read. The reports made limited mention, however, of 2007 county regulations that require trash haulers to offer recycling. When county officials pressed for those changes, they warned that the landfill in Shawnee would be full by 2027 without more stringent trash hauler regulations. After the change was instituted, a new study determined the landfill would be useable through 2043.
Olathe offered recycling prior to the county regulations, and the city-owned waste utility hauls its waste to another landfill.
