KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Food waste is an environmental hazard, filling up landfills and producing greenhouse gases that scientists believe adversely impact our climate.
Olathe is making it easier for people hoping to make a difference with the introduction of a Food Waste pilot program.
Residents will be able to drop off food scraps at a Compost Facility kiosk at 1100 N. Hedge Lane rather than place it in the garbage, adjacent to the mixed recycling dropoff site.
The food waste will then be composted through a partnership with Liberty-based Missouri Organic Recycling.
Olathe residents interested in the program should sign up online to receive more information.
“Food is the single largest category of waste that we send to landfills,” according to the city of Olathe.
Many types of food waste can be composted:
- Meat, poultry, and fish
- Shellfish and bones
- Egg and dairy products
- Table scraps
- Fruit and vegetables
- Bread, dough, pasta, and grains
- Coffee grounds, filters, and tea bags
Program organizers recommend keeping a container lined with a compostable bag or liner — plastic sacks are not accepted — in the kitchen for collecting scraps that can be transferred to a larger sealed bucket elsewhere, like a garage, for storage until it can be taken to the dropoff site.
That reduces the amount of food waste in the house to avoid any potential odors.
City leaders eventually hope to expand the pilot program and full program, which is expected to be announced soon, to all Johnson County residents.
