Just one month into the pilot, the city of Prairie Village is expanding its drop-off composting program.
The Prairie Village City Council on Aug. 18 unanimously agreed to purchase three more KC Can Compost smart bins for a total of five drop-off composting locations.
Since launching on July 1, KC Can Compost has collected more than 8,000 pounds of food scraps (as of Aug. 18) from the two bins originally approved as part of the pilot program.
The specific placement of the three new bins approved on Monday has yet to be determined, but city staff, public works and KC Can Compost will collaborate to find specific spots around the city.
Smart bins filled up within 24 hours after being emptied, staff says
The impetus for expanding the KC Can Compost drop-off program with three additional bins stems from, in part, the bins filling up within 24 hours after being emptied.
Ashley Freburg, the city’s public information officer and environmental committee staff liaison, told the city council on Monday that KC Can Compost increased Prairie Village bin pickups from once a week to three times a week. This is the maximum amount of weekly pickups KC Can Compost can handle, she said.
“Basically, the problem we’re running into is we don’t want to clip the wings of this pilot program by limiting the number of people that can sign up,” Freburg said.
“However, if we don’t do something, we’re still clipping the wings in a different way because if the bins are full, people can’t use them so that’s going to dampen any enthusiasm for the program,” Freburg added.
More than 400 residents signed up for the program, but more than 200 have actually dropped composting off at one of the two bins in the past month or so, Freburg said.
With five smart bins and three weekly pickups per bin, the city is estimated to spend $34,320 annually on the program. For the current and next fiscal year, there are dollars to cover this cost in the city’s sustainability fund, according to city documents.
That’s up from roughly $6,000 the city had originally budgeted for two smart bins and one weekly pickup.
City council unanimously approved expansion to test use
The city council last week unanimously approved expansion, generally for the sake of seeing whether residents use it during the winter months.
Councilmember Terrence Gallagher said that with the landfill nearing capacity — a point two residents made as a reason to support the expansion during public comment — and the city’s solid waste contract coming up in a few years, he wants to continue to test whether residents continue to use the composting program through the winter.
In response to Councilmember Dave Robinson’s comments questioning whether the program has peaked at more than 200 users, Councilmember Cole Robinson said he sees opportunities for growth in wards 5 and 6.
Based on a map of users by address, Cole said he sees large clusters of users around the bins themselves in wards 1 and 4. Cole said expanding the program may provide more bin accessibility to people in other parts of the city.
When the city council originally approved the pilot program back in April, councilmembers Terry O’Toole, Inga Selders, Lori Sharp and Nick Reddell cast dissenting votes.
Sharp, who in April said composting should be a choice and is not “an essential city service,” expressed her support for the program on Monday calling it a “great service for the community.”
Council will take another look at the program
- In the coming months, the city council will review the pilot program to consider whether to make it a permanent offering.
- Freburg said the pilot program review will come just as the 2027 budget cycle begins.
- If the decision at the time of the program review is to continue the program, then the city council can consider folding the annual costs into the city’s solid waste fee starting in 2027.
Keep reading environment and climate news: Overland Park latest JoCo city to explore drop-off composting for residents
