Overland Park is developing a new program to support composting efforts at some apartment complexes in the city.
The effort — modeled off of a similar glass recycling program with Ripple Glass at select Overland Park multifamily housing complexes — is part of the city’s wider efforts to divert solid waste from the landfill and encourage more sustainable activities.
Overland Park is partnering with KC Can Compost
For the apartment complex composting program, Overland Park is working with Kansas City, Missouri-based nonprofit KC Can Compost.
After seeing success with the glass recycling program, Sustainability Programs Coordinator Gayle Bergmen said the city is pulling from the list of multifamily communities that participated in that effort during the first year to trial run for the composting program.
“Food waste from our kitchens makes up a large part of what we throw away that goes to the landfill,” Bergman said.
While “that sector of waste diversion is growing,” she said, options for people living in multifamily communities in general are limited when it comes to composting, and sometimes even regular recycling. That gap is where the pilot program comes in.
So far, Promontory at 89th Street and Metcalf Avenue is the only complex that is confirmed for the composting program, but Overland Park Communications Manager Meg Ralph said the city is talking to three other complexes “that are interested.”
How will multifamily composting work?
- Participating multifamily complexes will receive 64-gallon roll-cart waste bins for food waste.
- Residents within those complexes who wish to participate themselves — and have taken the required training course offered through KC Can Compost — will also receive smaller 5-gallon bins to keep in their units to collect their food waste for composting.
- They will then empty their personal bins into the larger complex bins for regular pickup from KC Can Compost.
- The goal is to have at least 10% of residents at participating complexes partake in the food waste composting effort, Bergman said.
Why compost?
- Composting can help keep food waste out of the landfill. Diverting such organic waste from the landfill can help extend the life of a landfill, Bergman said, by freeing up space over time.
- It also cuts down on the methane emissions that a landfill produces because organic materials, like food scraps, aren’t breaking down there in bulk.
- Plus, the end product of the composting process can help with soil health and serve as a natural fertilizer to help grow more produce.
Next steps:
- Bergman said the program is expected to formally start soon, ideally in June.
- In the meantime, the city is working to confirm more complexes for the composting program.
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