Overland Park is pondering ways to improve the city’s lone recycling center, which attracts thousands of users each year and takes in more than a million pounds of recyclable materials.

That’s after a recent study on trash and other solid waste in the city suggested the center might need to expand or relocate to keep pace with high demand, among other options.

The city has operated the recycling center for years. It collected close to 1.4 million pounds of recyclable materials in 2024, from an estimated 65,000 users who came from Overland Park and surrounding Kansas City area communities. In fact, more than 35% of those who used the facility at 119th and Hardy streets came from outside of Overland Park.

The center, which is free for people to use, is open Tuesday through Saturday each week, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. during the week and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends.

But, according to the recently completed citywide Solid Waste Study, the Overland Park Recycling Center just isn’t big enough for the high level of demand it sees.

It’s also not particularly well suited for the type of vehicle traffic that comes through due to limited places to park, a single point for entering and exiting and a narrower road leading to the facility.

The study also flagged concerns about illegal dumping and people leaving items behind that aren’t recyclable.

Still, the study — which was conducted to look at potential improvements to the city’s solid waste management system beyond just the recycling center — identifies the recycling center as one of the “most impactful” diversion programs Overland Park offers.

Solid waste diversion programs keep items out of the landfill, including composting, general curbside recycling and events like the twice-yearly Recycling Extravaganza.

The study didn’t recommend a specific solution, but offered a few options for improving services, which included relocating the center entirely, charging users a fee or potentially reaching an agreement with other jurisdictions to help cover the cost.

(Read the full study here.)

Recycling center sometimes sees 500+ patrons a day

Adam Hutchison, recycling center drop-off supervisor, told the Post his primary role is to make sure people are sorting their recyclables correctly and not putting anything that’s not recyclable in the bins.

However, some days, he feels more like a “traffic cop.”

On a typical weekday, Hutchison might see about 250 cars come through, but sometimes, particularly on Saturdays, he can see more than 500.

“I have to direct traffic and try to get people in,” Hutchison said, “because we just don’t have the most room in here, so we just try to make it as safe as possible for everybody.”

Robert Maher is an Overland Park resident who comes to the recycling center about once a month, primarily to recycle cardboard, though he’d like to see the service expand to include things like document shredding.

“Something like that would be really cool if they did expand this in any way,” he said.

Still, in general, Maher said he usually has a positive experience when utilizing the facility.

“We cut up our boxes so that they fit in easier, and the people here are usually pretty nice,” Maher said.

Hutchison knows longer-term conversations about improving the center’s operations are underway. In the meantime, he’s focused on ensuring an enjoyable experience for people who use it now.

“Day to day, I try to figure out ways to improve everybody’s experience,” he said. “While there’s a lot that could be done, there’s also a lot that we do [already].”

Trash study floats potential solutions for recycling center

The Solid Waste Study does suggest potential solutions for challenges at the Overland Park Recycling Center.

Those include potentially relocating the center to a place that has more room, expanding it where it’s currently located, closing the center altogether or leaving it generally as it is.

It also suggests several options for covering the costs of operating and improving the center, which is about $130,000 per year or $2 per user. That includes pursuing cost-sharing with other cities or the county government, asking for patrons to donate when they use the facility or requiring patrons coming from other cities to pay while leaving it free for Overland Park residents.

So far, there isn’t a leading option and members of the Overland Park City Council don’t seem to have reached a consensus on how to proceed.

Additionally, the study ranked addressing any challenges at the recycling center as a lower-grade priority in light of more pressing conversations about how the city should handle residential trash hauling, which means a solution may be months — or even years — away.

Keep reading: Some Overland Park residents pay twice as much for trash pickup as their neighbors. The city wants to change that