Recycling is on the agenda tonight at the Joplin city council meeting. Since the 1960’s recycling and compost rates in the US have increased from six percent to just over 32 percent in 2018, representatives from Burn McConnell, a Kansas City-based engineering and architectural firm, will provide a presentation about the state of recycling and municipal solid waste in Joplin.

According to the presentation on the city’s website joplinmo.org, about 82 percent of the city’s garbage is curbside trash. While curbside recycling at 1.4 percent and Joplin’s recycling center at 1.2 percent account for 2.6 percent of waste diversion in the community.

However, the city’s participation in recycling has increased by about two percent in the past five years. Also, about 10 percent or 1,700 of the city’s refuse customers utilize curbside recycling.

While the presentation highlights that 72% of trash customers nationally participate in curbside recycling programs. The Joplin city council meeting gets underway tonight at 6.