The Prairie Village City Council on Monday unanimously approved participation in a curbside mattress recycling program.
Why it matters: Johnson County’s landfill, located in Shawnee, is on track to close — due to capacity limitations — in 2043.
Ward 4 Councilmember and environmental committee liaison Piper Reimer said the committee was reminded about the need to divert waste from the landfill when Commissioner Becky Fast spoke to the city council last month.
Reimer said curbside mattress pickup will reduce landfill waste which, in turn, will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and toxins going into air, water and soil. The environmental committee dedicated its entire $8,000 budget to the curbside mattress recycling program, Reimer said.
The details: Prairie Village is partnering with Kansas City-based Sleepyhead Beds, a nonprofit that takes gently-used beds and donates them to local children and families in need. If a mattress cannot be reused, it will be collected and recycled by Avenue of Life, a Kansas City community center.
Sleepyhead Beds is offering the city a rate of $19 per mattress.
The city estimates the total cost could range from $4,335 to $16,055, depending on the number of residents who participate in the program and therefore the number of mattresses picked up — 228 at the low end of estimates, up to a high-end range of 845.
Anything over the $8,000 environmental committee budget will have to come out of the city’s general fund.
How it works: Residents need to let city staff know if they are planning to participate in the program and if so, how many mattresses would be set outside and the condition of those mattresses. This will allow city staff to provide Sleepyhead Beds with a list of participating residents.
Residents participating in the program can set out their mattresses on the curb during their scheduled large item pick-up date, as follows:
- April 22 — all homes west of Roe Avenue and north of 79th Street
- April 29 — all homes west of Roe and south of 79th
- May 6 — all homes east of Roe and north of 75th Street
- May 13 — all homes east of Roe and south of 75th
Key quote: “It is important that our community engage in diversion of all items, particularly large waste items, from our landfill — especially those that can be reused or recycled,” Reimer said.
