KC semitrailers hauling trash & recycling spilling debris onto highways

Video shows debris falling from the back of semitrailers taking loads to landfill, recycling facility

Video shows debris falling from the back of semitrailers taking loads to landfill, recycling facility

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Video shows debris falling from the back of semitrailers taking loads to landfill, recycling facility

It’s not hard to miss trash and debris piling up along Kansas City-area highways over the past few years.

KMBC has recently documented how city and state workers clean up at least one ton of waste from highways every day.

Not only are taxpayers footing the bill to haul trash and recycling from their homes and businesses, but they are also paying even more to pick it back up from interstates.

KMBC spent several weeks watching items falling onto Kansas City-area highways from trucks originating at three separate waste transfer facilities.

Trash and recycling from your home or business are often loaded onto semitrailers in those waste transfer facilities and then hauled to the landfill or recycling facility. The transfer facilities help cut down on the number of high-mileage trips that smaller trash and recycling trucks need to take from neighborhoods.

KMBC followed trucks on three separate trips from three different private waste transfer facilities like GFL and Mark II in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Raptor transfer facility in Grandview.

Eight of nine semitrailers KMBC followed from those facilities had debris falling onto the interstate.

In one recent instance, a semitrailer hauling a load from Kansas City, Missouri, spilled at least 103 items onto interstates spanning both sides of the state line during a 25-minute trip to the Johnson County, Kansas, landfill.

The semitrailer's trip originated at the Mark II waste transfer station along 40 Highway in Kansas City, Missouri. A Kansas City, Missouri, spokeswoman said Mark II is one of three transfer stations used by the city, including Raptor and GFL.

Yet, questions have remained unanswered about what may have caused the items to spill onto the highway.

A spokesman for Mark II referred KMBC to a private hauler coming from the facility, Atomic Transport.

A man who answered the phone number listed on Atomic’s website says loads coming from Mark II are tarped electronically and said he would forward information to the area manager.

Multiple phone calls and emails to representatives of Mark II and Atomic to understand more about what may have happened were not returned.

Representatives from the GFL waste transfer facility near Interstate 435 and Truman Road did not answer multiple calls and emails seeking clarity about what may have happened on recent trips with debris spilling out from trucks that originated at the facility. Phone calls and emails to a private hauler that takes loads from that facility were not returned.

“The community needs to see that video,” said Marsha Ramsey, a Kansas City, Missouri, resident who has voiced her concerns with city and state officials during the past year about waste along interstates.

Ramsey reviewed video of a semitrailer that originated at the GFL waste transfer facility in Kansas City, Missouri. The video showed multiple plastic items and a paper grocery sack coming from the back of the semi. The truck even passed a taxpayer-funded litter crew as it cleaned items from the interstate shoulder.

“I think I would take that video to the powers that be and let them see,” she said.

Kit Starr of Raptor Recycling and Transfer in Grandview was the only waste transfer facility owner to agree to an on-the-record conversation about items KMBC documented coming from the back of semis.

“We absolutely do not want that happening out of our trucks,” Starr said after reviewing the video KMBC documented.

KMBC saw items coming from two of three trucks followed from the Raptor facility last month. One trip showed soft material coming from the back of the semi as it entered the Three Trails crossing. Another trip showed a piece of plastic from the back of the truck toward the end of a trip along Interstate 435 to the Johnson County landfill.

“I appreciate you bringing this to our attention and giving us the opportunity to take a look at the video and have this conversation,” he said.

Starr is now having internal conversations with his team about better securing loads after seeing KMBC's video.

Starr demonstrated to KMBC how workers use long poles to check for debris that might get caught in between the tarp system and the top of the truck for every load.

Starr also says Raptor has ordered new straps to secure the tarp systems on top of Raptor’s semis to prevent loads from coming out.

“If that's something that's happening behind our trucks, we absolutely want to know about it, and we want to be a part of the solution and solve it,” he said.

Starr said he takes environmental responsibility seriously, participating in highway cleanups near the Raptor facility in Grandview. He has also recently volunteered at a community cleanup event picking up tires from the Blue River Watershed Association.

KMBC also recently showed video of items falling off trucks to Missouri Department of Transportation Assistant District Engineer Matt Killion. Killion said trash that flies off any vehicle creates a safety concern.

“Everyone needs to do their part, drivers securing their loads, MoDOT removing any trash from the roadsides, and enforcement issuing citations for littering,” he said.

Killion said MoDOT is paying a contractor $820,000 to pick up loads of trash from 62 miles of highways on the Missouri side of the state line near Kansas City.

MoDOT’s recent haul from Jackson County in April netted around 3,500 bags of litter, according to a MoDOT spokeswoman.

KMBC has also contacted a city of Kansas City, Missouri, spokeswoman asking city manager Brian Platt to review the video. KMBC has not heard back about Platt’s availability.

Ramsey, meanwhile, sees all that trash along Kansas City's highways and wonders who will step up to stop it.

“It's counterproductive,” she said.She wants the public to see the video and demand immediate changes.“I think we need to start taking pride in our city,” Ramsey said.

If you have any tips about trash and debris along Kansas City highways, including any other tips about trips from waste transfer facilities, email investigative reporter Matt Flener at [email protected].