Solid Waste Plan Annual Update

Sedgwick County Solid Waste Management Plan Update

Submitted to Kansas Department of Health and Environment

June 2025

INTRODUCTION

K.S.A. 65-3405 requires the development of county solid waste management plans.  Sedgwick County’s annual review is due June 2025.  This report reflects solid waste data collected from facilities for calendar year 2024 and any other activities and policy decisions made since the last update.

DEMOGRAPHICS

Sedgwick County consists of 20 incorporated cities and 26 unincorporated townships.  Over 75% of the County’s population lives in Wichita.  U.S. Census Bureau data shows that Sedgwick County’s population in 2023 (the most recent data available) was 528,469.  Population is expected to grow 0.4% per year through year 2030, expanding to approximately 531,888 citizens.  Table 1 shows 2022 and 2023 census data (estimated) for Sedgwick County and the cities within Sedgwick County. The source for the information is U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division.

Table 1 - Population for Cities in Sedgwick County

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Sedgwick County’s Solid Waste Management Committee consists of 16 members, including 10 members that are required by state statute, one appointment by each of the five County Commissioners, and one member to be the non-voting chair of the committee.  Table 2 identifies the members of the Sedgwick County Solid Waste Management Committee and their associations.  There are currently two empty positions.  The committee meets as business items dictate. 

Table 2 - Sedgwick County Solid Waste Management Committee

MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE (MSW)

MSW Collection

The solid waste management system in Sedgwick County is private sector driven. Six businesses were licensed to haul non-hazardous waste in 2024. Table 3 lists these businesses.
Table 3 – Businesses licensed to haul non-hazardous waste

Sedgwick County requires all licensed haulers to provide information on the number of solid waste and recycling customers they provide service for, both commercial and residential.
Table 4 – Number of Commercial Solid Waste and Recycling Customers Reported by Hauler

Total Number of Solid Waste Customers: 12,761

Total Number of Recycling Customers: 2,013

Table 5 - Residential Solid Waste and Recycling Customers Reported by Hauler

Total Number of Trash Carts: 153,805
Total Number of Recycling Carts: 44,236

The Sedgwick County Appraiser’s Office currently lists 191,242 households in Sedgwick County. This does not include apartments. A comparison of this to the number of residential trash carts reported by solid waste haulers indicates that 37,437 households do not have trash collection. All households in the 14 cities with contracts for residential solid waste collection have curbside trash and recycling collection. The number of households in cities with contracts for residential solid waste collection is 23,951.

Residents in the unincorporated area can contract with a solid waste hauler, bury their trash, burn their trash in a burn barrel specified by the Sedgwick County Fire Department, or self-haul to a permitted disposal site. The number of households in the unincorporated area of the county is 12,411. Residents in cities without contracts, can contract with a solid waste hauler or self-haul to a permitted disposal site. The number of households in the 4 cities of the Second and Third Class without contracts for residential solid waste collection is 11,146. It should be noted that Wichita Code requires “The occupant of each single-family dwelling shall arrange and pay directly, unless otherwise paid, for all of the residential trash produced on such premises to be collected by a solid waste collector at least once a week” (Sec. 7.08.030 – Residential Trash (b) Collection and Disposal). The number of households in Wichita is 143,734. Those households can contract directly with waste haulers.

Solid Waste Trends

County leaders support local communities’ efforts to reduce the cost and increase services for solid waste collection. Sedgwick County recognizes that cities should make their own decisions in regard to waste disposal. Sedgwick County does recognize the advantage of waste hauler contracts that will reduce road wear and tear, reduce air emissions, reduce disposal costs and increase services such as curbside recycling, volume-based trash rates and bulky waste collections.
Approximately 6.7% of the Sedgwick County population live in a city without a solid waste collection contract of some sort. 

Solid Waste Disposal

Waste Connections Transfer Station reported that 395,676 tons of solid waste was received at their facility during 2024. This is a 2.5% increase from the previous year. The amount of MSW generated per person per day in Sedgwick County has been decreasing the past 5 years. The EPA national amount is 4.9 pounds per person per day. In 2020, the average for Sedgwick County was 4.24 pounds per person per day. In 2024, it was 4.1 pounds per person per day.

The MSW from the transfer station was transferred to Plumb Thicket Landfill in Harper County for final disposal. The Plumb Thicket Landfill has a site life of 42 years at current volumes.

SOLID WASTE REDUCTION

Sedgwick County encourages citizens to recycle and reduce waste.

Residential Recycling in Sedgwick County

Tonnage reports for the materials shipped for recycling in 2024 were submitted by 2 material recovery facilities in the county. Waste Connections Recycling Facility shipped 12,928 tons and PRo Kansas Recycling Center shipped 583 tons. The total reported by the facilities is 13,511 tons. The amount recycled has decreased slightly over the past 5 years. In 2020, the reported amount of material recycled in Sedgwick County was 17193 tons.

Drop-off Recycling

PRo Kansas Recycling accepts most types of plastic containers, plastic bags, mixed paper, metals, books, and glass.

Curbside Recycling

In Sedgwick County, single-stream curbside recycling collection is offered by all haulers. The collection is either provided by the individual haulers or contracted through a 2nd party hauler. Obtaining data on the number of residential customers using curbside recycling service is difficult due to the number of haulers in our area.

Reduction in Waste

Dillon’s Grocery Stores and the Kroger Company continue their efforts of moving towards EPA’s Zero Waste threshold of 90% through the Zero Hunger/Zero Waste Initiative. Local Dillon’s Stores are implementing source-reduction opportunities for the deli, bakery, dairy, produce and meat and seafood departments. Reducing the amounts of some items prepared in the deli and bakery that would be removed due to the shelf life, leads to less waste. Increasing food donations to the Kansas Food Bank and diverting food trim and waste to Quest, a local animal feed program, have all diverted tons of waste from landfills.

ICT Food Rescue diverted 331,430 pounds of food from the landfill in 2024. Utilizing a national equation shows that those pounds converted into 276,192 meals and saved the community $639,660. Their mission is to distribute unavoidable food surplus, sharing with the food insecure of Wichita. ICT Food Rescue volunteers will pick up donated food items from restaurants, grocers and catered events and transport the food to pantries, foster homes and recovery centers. With their new Upcycle Kitchen, fresh produce and other raw ingredients donated by urban farmers, restaurants and grocery stores will be used to prepare soups and casseroles that are oven-ready for their recipient organizations.

Composting in Sedgwick County

Brooks Construction and Demolition Landfill is open to the public and operates a compost site at their location at 4100 North West Street in Wichita, Kansas. They reported receiving 3,652 tons for composting. Evergreen Recycle at 302 West 53rd Street North is open to the public. They operate a compost site and a pallet refurbishing business. Evergreen reported receiving 2,125 tons for composting. The cities of Clearwater, Colwich, Derby, Haysville, Mount Hope, Sedgwick, and Valley Center maintain small brush piles and/or compost sites for their residents’ use.

Curbside composting is available locally through Nudge Compost. A five gallon bucket is provided for food scraps and is picked up weekly. The contents are taken away and converted into compost. Nudge Compost is partnering with local businesses for food scrap pickup as well. In 2024, about 400 tons were diverted from the landfill.

Management of Grass Clippings

Residents are encouraged to mulch mow or compost their grass clippings. Grass clipping are accepted at numerous compost sites located throughout the county. These sites are listed under the compost section of this report.

MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS FOR SPECIFIC WASTES

Drug Drop Off

Sedgwick County residents can now easily dispose of unwanted or expired prescriptions, over-the-counter and controlled medications at designated drug drop off boxes without any questions asked or ID check. Environmental Resources has partnered with local law enforcement agencies to collect controlled substances through the MedSafe Medication Disposal System at the following locations:

Bel Aire Police Department, 7651 E. Central Park Ave., Bel Aire, Kansas
Cheney Police Department, 131 E. Main, Cheney, Kansas
Clearwater Police Department, 109 S. Lee, Clearwater, Kansas
Haysville Police Department, 200 W. Grand, Haysville, Kansas (new in 2024)
Kechi Police Department, 105 N. Sioux St., Kechi, Kansas (new in 2024)
Mulvane Police Department, 410 E. Main, Mulvane, Kansas
Valley Center Police Department, 616 E. 5th St., Valley Center, Kansas

The Bel Aire, Cheney, Clearwater, Haysville, Mulvane and Valley Center boxes have a 38 gallon capacity. The Kechi box has an 18 gallon capacity. The amount of medications collected for disposal in 2024 was 111.1 pounds in Bel Aire, 50.5 pounds in Cheney, 61.3 pounds in Clearwater, 34.05 pounds in Kechi, 61.15 pounds at Mulvane, and 94.85 pounds at Valley Center for a total of 412.5 pounds.

Nine sites in Sedgwick County collected old or unused pharmaceuticals from citizens by participating in the DEA National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. The sites were at the Wichita Patrol East and West Police stations, Wesley Medical Center, Sedgwick County Zoo, Robert Dole VA Medical Center, Sedgwick County Household Hazardous Waste facility, the Oaklawn Activity Center, Haysville Police Department and Bel Aire Police Department.

Three Wichita Walgreens stores at 555 N. Maize Rd., 3150 S. Seneca, 3333 E. Central and one Derby Walgreens store located at 458 N. Baltimore, two Walmart pharmacies at 10600 W. 21st St. and 3030 N. Rock Rd., the CVS store at 10405 W. 13th, Professional Pharmacy at 744 N. Waco, Cheney Pharmacy in Cheney, and McConnell AFB at 7950 Leavenworth St. installed drug disposal kiosks for the same purpose.

Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)

The Sedgwick County Household Hazardous Waste Facility is located at 801 Stillwell in Wichita, Kansas. In 2024, 15,580 participants brought 1,055,194 pounds of material (excluding solid waste) to the HHW Facility. Of the total brought to the HHW facility, 207,586 pounds were reclaimed by 8,833 Swap and Shop customers. Sedgwick County provided four remote collection events in 2024. These locations were Textron Beechcraft, Haysville City Hall, Spirit AeroSystems, and the Sedgwick County Zoo. The four events accounted for 1,449 vehicles serviced collecting 151,509 pounds of material. 

Beginning in August 2024, the HHW facility began recycling plastic containers that contained used oil and engine coolant, as well as metal from punctured aerosol cans and empty metal containers. 2,060 pounds of plastic and 3,231 pounds of metal were recycled. Also in 2024, 128,095 pounds of used motor oil, 23,679 pounds of lead-acid batteries and 3,336 pounds of rechargeable batteries were recycled.

An expansion to the HHW Facility began September 17, 2024. The Swap & Shop was closed to the public from that date until the completion of construction. The entire facility was closed to the public from December 25, 2024 until January 1, 2025. The drop-off of hazardous chemicals continued in the concrete area south of the facility. The expansion increases safety for the staff and public. It also allows for a larger Swap & Shop, a Conference/Training room for increased education, a breakroom, offices and Bull Pen area. Increased storage is available with closets and a garage for the remote trailer and associated supplies.

In 2024, 247 conditionally exempt small quantity generators (CESQG) brought in 36,698 pounds of waste to the Sedgwick County Household Hazardous Waste Facility.

Construction & Demolition (C&D) Materials

Commercially generated construction & demolition materials are banned from the transfer stations in Sedgwick County. Two Construction & Demolition Landfills in Sedgwick County accept this waste. Both facilities are open to the public.

During 2024, Brooks C & D Landfill received and buried 94,743 tons of waste and
CDR - North received and buried 104,533 tons of waste. The total for all C & D waste buried in 2024 is 200,176 tons. This is a 1% decrease from the amount reported the previous year.

Waste Tires

Waste tires have been an issue for decades. Before regulations that controlled tire storage, local businesses stockpiled large numbers of waste tires. These large piles posed fire hazards and health and environmental risks. Waste tires are improperly stored on some farms and residential land and have been and continue to be an illegal dumping problem.
Sedgwick County held a waste tire collection event on April 10, 11 and 12, 2025. This was the ninth Waste Tire Collection event held by Sedgwick County. The event was held for residents, farmers, and government agencies. There was a 50-tire limit per customer and no businesses were allowed.
Sedgwick County Public Works managed the large tire piles and the flow of traffic through the yard. The vendor, Champlin Tire Recycling, was present during the event and hauled the tires away for recycling. The program was funded by the County’s Solid Waste Fee and collected 135,748 passenger tire equivalents from 2,340 vehicles.
Sedgwick County has held 9 waste tire collection events since the year 2000. These events collected a total of 1,472,311 passenger tire equivalent units. A breakdown of these events is as follows:

2025 – 135,748 passenger tire equivalents from 2,340 vehicles
2023 – 137,187 passenger tire equivalents from 2,028 vehicles
2021 – 183,471 passenger tire equivalents from 2,552 vehicles
2019 – 180,372 passenger tire equivalents from 2,663 vehicles
2017 – 101,193 passenger tire equivalents from 1,307 vehicles
2015 – 137,780 passenger tire equivalents from 2,054 vehicles
2011 – 155,878 passenger tire equivalents from 1,866 vehicles
2004 – 222,638 passenger tire equivalents from 3,569 vehicles
2000 – 218,044 passenger tire equivalents from 5,630 vehicles

Christmas Trees

From December 22, 2024 through January 23, 2025, Sedgwick County provided 22 sites throughout the County for residents to drop off Christmas trees. Residents were also invited to take free mulch home with them. The County collected and mulched 2,402 trees through this program. This is an increase of 24% from 2024. In addition, some small cities in Sedgwick County also operate their own Christmas tree disposal program.

Special Cleanup Programs

Since 2002, Sedgwick County has paid for the disposal of 1,216 tons of illegally dumped waste collected by townships. The County will continue to pay the tipping fees at the transfer station for illegal dumping materials collected by townships.

The Department of Environmental Resources partnered with the Sedgwick County Department of Aging and the Metropolitan Area Building and Construction Department (MABCD) on special cleanups and to help hoarding cases and divert fines by providing free roll-off trash containers to 90 properties in 2024. Vouchers were given to another 67 individuals for self-hauling their items to the local trash transfer stations.

In 2024, residents of Payne Township had the opportunity to dispose of bulky waste at a township clean-up event. Roll-off containers were placed at the township facility where 36 mattresses, 28 tires and 19.39 tons of material was collected. Residents of Minneha Township had a clean-up opportunity. 6 mattresses and 10.55 tons of material were collected at this event.

Beginning in April, 2025 Sedgwick County promoted a bulky waste coupon program. County residents could request a coupon that would pay the disposal fees charged at Waste Connections transfer station for loads up to 1,000 pounds. The coupon is valid for 2 months from the time of receipt. 2,520 coupons were issued. Sedgwick County started the bulky waste coupon program in 2012. From 2012 to 2025, Sedgwick County issued 76,082 bulky waste coupons.

Sedgwick County performed a waste tire cleanup for the Oaklawn neighborhood on November 21, 2024. 175 tires were collected for disposal.

Storm Debris

In 2015, Sedgwick County acquired a tub grinder and air curtain burner. When storms occur in Sedgwick County that result in significant tree damage and debris, citizens need some convenient way to get rid of all the tree limbs. Recognizing this problem, Sedgwick County operates an Industrial Tub Grinder and Air Curtain Burner to help communities across Sedgwick County with storm-debris damage. Not only does this provide an efficient way to deal with storm debris, but the tub grinder also provides the mulch product for citizens to use. The air curtain burner will reduce the particulate matter from the burning of clean wood waste. Twenty acres of land are set aside in northeast Sedgwick County for the collection of storm related material. However, this mobile equipment can be taken to other appropriate areas near the storm-generated material

KDHE SOLID WASTE PERMITS

KDHE requires that any solid waste permit must first be approved by the local government as to its consistency with the local Solid Waste Management Plan. There are no solid waste permit applications in process in Sedgwick County from June 2023 to June 2024.

KDHE GRANT APPLICATIONS

KDHE requires that all grant applications come before the Solid Waste Management Committee. There were no grant applications from June 2023 to June 2024.

PUBLIC EDUCATION

Sedgwick County continues to make numerous efforts to inform and educate citizens and businesses about issues related to solid waste in Sedgwick County.  Staff interacted with the public at trade shows and numerous presentations.  Staff made ongoing updates to an online recycling guide.  The guide can be found at: http  Numerous promotional items and educational pieces were developed and distributed to the public.

SOLID WASTE FEE

On May 14, 2025, the Board of County Commissioners voted to adopt the Solid Waste Fee and approve the recommendations by an internal committee that reviewed the various uses for the properties, the volume of waste occurring from the different land uses, and which type of properties use the Sedgwick County Solid Waste Programs. The recommendations for the Solid Waste Fee are to lower the annual residential base rate per dwelling to $4.00. The fees for High Density Residential are $3.20 for each dwelling and $5.00 for High Density Residential with Additional Use for each dwelling. The Solid Waste Fee for commercial and Industrial parcels (including ag.) have five tiered rates based on classification standards, and the majority of culture and recreation fees are moving from Tier 4 to Tier 1 based on a 2025 analysis of their waste characteristics. Tier 1 is now $25.00 per parcel. Tier 2 is $60.00 per parcel. Tier 3 is $100.00 per parcel. Tier 4 is $200.00 per parcel. And Tier 5 is $400.00 per parcel.