Shawnee is renaming its popular bulky item pickup program and changing the way it distributes vouchers to residents for one free drop-off at the landfill.
The annual bulky item trash program — previously named Tidy Town — gives residents the chance to get rid of large junk items, including old furniture, appliances and mattresses.
Throughout February, the city will be mailing out vouchers for its newly renamed Landfill Voucher program via its city newsletter, “All Things Hometown.”
A landfill voucher will be attached to each copy of the “All Things Hometown” newsletter.
Putting the vouchers in the city’s newsletter replaces the previous method of mailing the vouchers in a plain envelope, which risked them getting lost in the mix of mail, said Doug Donahoo, the city’s communications director.
“In previous years, the voucher was sent in a separate envelope, generally right at the beginning of the year, and it was just a pretty simple piece of paper in a fairly nondescript envelope that said ‘Tidy Town,'” he said. “(It was) something that, honestly, if you weren’t paying very close enough attention, could potentially be missed.”
Shawnee residents can use the voucher one time at the landfill through Dec. 31. The voucher is in addition to one curbside bulky item pickup residents get with their trash hauler each year.
The voucher program replaces Tidy Town
Previously known as Tidy Town, even being called that in late 2024 at a Shawnee City Council meeting, city staff have rebranded it as the Landfill Voucher program.
The name change helps “better explain what the program is,” Donahoo said. “We decided to go really straightforward.”
Despite the name change, the mechanics of the program will remain largely the same.
With a voucher and proof of residency, Shawnee residents are entitled to one free drop-off at the Johnson County Landfill, 17955 Holliday Dr., annually.
The program is restricted to one carload, truckload or U-haul that is up to five cubic yards.
Appliances containing freon will incur a fee.
Hazardous items, including latex or oil paints and batteries, must be disposed of separately. That can be arranged by appointment at the Johnson County Hazardous Waste Facility.
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The program is funded by trash hauler fees
In November, the Shawnee City Council approved a significant rate hike, from $25 to $1,000, for private trash haulers in Shawnee to help fund the landfill voucher program.
Last year, the Tidy Town program cost the city about $22,000, according to city documents. With the voucher being attached to the city’s newsletter (and not mailed in individual envelopes), it lowers the program’s cost to about $10,000.
With six licensed trash haulers in Shawnee, the $6,000 generated from the fee will cover more than half of the program.
“The vity’s general fund was responsible for covering the cost of the Tidy Town program — which includes printing and mailing the vouchers to every home in Shawnee,” Colin Duffy, deputy city manager, said in a previous interview with the Johnson County Post. “This will shift much of that burden from our residents onto the trash haulers.”
The program has experienced changes through the years
In the past, Shawnee’s Tidy Town program was a weekend-long bulky item curbside pickup event.
During the designated weekend, every resident could put bulky items on the curb at the same time, and trash haulers would come by to pick them up.
In 2020, that changed as trash haulers told city staff it was “no longer a feasible option” because they had phased out equipment that could pick up the bulky items, opting for more cost-effective truck that only requires one person to operate.
In response, the city council approved a measure that required trash companies to schedule individual bulky item pickups with residents at least once a year.
The new landfill voucher program works as an additional resource, allowing residents another chance to get rid of their bulky items.
“The Landfill Voucher is an extra bonus on top of that,” Donahoo said. “If you do your large-item pickup with your trash service provider in Shawnee, and then a month later, you clean out some more big stuff, you don’t have to hold on to it for another year. You can take the voucher and go directly to the landfill and drop it off there.”
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