Platte County MO Trash Service: Who Picks Up Where (2026 Guide)

Ask a Clay County neighbor who picks up their trash and you'll usually get a one-word answer. Ask the same question in Platte County and the honest answer is "depends which side of the road you're on."

The 2020 census counted 106,718 people in Platte County. They're split across a slice of Kansas City, MO, about a dozen small cities and villages, and a lot of unincorporated land between Platte City and Weston. The county government doesn't run a residential trash service. Every household ends up under one of four setups, and two houses a mile apart can have different haulers, different days, and different rules about what goes in the cart.

Here's how to figure out which one you're on.

Does Platte County pick up trash?

No. Platte County government doesn't collect household trash. Collection is handled by whoever governs your address:

If your address is in...	Who arranges pickup	Who you call
Kansas City, MO (64151, 64153, 64154, parts of 64152)	KCMO Solid Waste, city-issued carts	311
Riverside, Platte Woods, Weatherby Lake, Platte City	The city, through a contract or its own crew	City Hall
Parkville	Your subdivision's or your own contract with a hauler	Your hauler
Unincorporated Platte County	You pick a private hauler	Your hauler

The fastest check is your tax bill or your last trash invoice. If you pay nobody directly and your cart has a KCMO sticker, you're on the city. If a Republic or GFL bill shows up at your house, you're on a subscription. When in doubt, look up your street on our trash day map.

The Kansas City, MO side of Platte County

A big share of Platte County residents live in Kansas City. Tiffany Springs, the neighborhoods along NW Barry Road west of I-29, and most of the land around KCI are KCMO, even with a Platte County tax bill.

That means KCMO Solid Waste, not a private hauler. The Northland got the city's new trash carts first, starting in August 2025, and the rules are the city's:

• All trash must be bagged before it goes in the cart.
• The lid has to close.
• Extra bags need pre-paid tags.
• The cart belongs to the city and stays with the house when you move.

That last point matters more than people expect. You can't toss a smelly KCMO cart and buy a new one. We walked through what a Missouri summer does to a city cart in your KCMO cart's first summer. The short version: a year of drips on the cart floor doesn't go anywhere unless someone removes it.

Cities that contract for you

Riverside (64150)

Riverside contracts with GFL Environmental. Trash and recycling go out every Friday, and when a holiday lands midweek, pickup slides to Saturday. Every home gets two carts at no charge, one for trash and one for recycling.

A few Riverside rules we see missed:

• Trash goes in the cart bagged. Recycling goes in loose. Bagged recycling is left behind.
• Overflow bags need a bright green tag, $2 each at City Hall, and each bag has to stay under 40 pounds.
• Yard waste is picked up four times a year, spring and fall, in paper bags. Brush bundles max out at 4 feet by 2 feet.
• Bulky items: free drop-off at the Damon Pursell yard waste facility on NW Riverpark Drive, curbside with a $7.50 orange tag, or GFL's express pickup at $50 for five items.
• Glass goes to the recycling spot on the City Hall campus, not the cart.

Questions go to Riverside City Hall at (816) 741-3993, or GFL at (816) 380-5595.

Platte Woods

The city arranges service through GFL. There is no curbside recycling program listed for Platte Woods, so recycling means a trip to Kansas City's Northland recycling center at 5601 NE Pleasant Valley Road. Call the city to confirm your day.

Weatherby Lake (64152)

Republic Services, (816) 254-1470. Holidays push the route back a day, yard waste runs all 52 weeks for residents who pay for it, and bulky pickup is once a year. The lake changes how you should clean a bin here, and we covered that in our Weatherby Lake bin cleaning guide.

Platte City (64079)

Platte City runs its own residential collection through Platte City Public Works, (816) 858-3046. The city program covers trash, recycling, and bulky items for a fee. If you live just outside city limits with a Platte City mailing address, you are probably not on this program. That's the unincorporated section below.

Parkville: check your subdivision

Parkville is the city that trips up the most new residents. Service runs through haulers, mostly Republic Services and GFL, and which one you have often depends on your subdivision rather than your street. Riss Lake, Thousand Oaks, and the older homes near downtown can all be on different arrangements.

If you just closed on a Parkville house, ask the HOA before you call any hauler. Many Parkville HOAs negotiate a single contract, and signing up on your own can mean paying twice. Our Parkville bin cleaning guide covers the Riss Lake watershed piece, and our GFL vs. Republic breakdown compares the two haulers.

Unincorporated Platte County: you pick the hauler

Outside city limits (the acreage off Route 92 toward Tracy, the farm roads around Farley, the stretch north toward Camden Point and Dearborn), nobody assigns you a hauler. You subscribe to one yourself, and if you don't, nothing gets picked up.

The companies we see most often on these roads:

• Republic Services, which serves Platte City and the surrounding area.
• Platte Valley Sanitation, (816) 746-8619. They list Platte City in their service area and give new customers a free 35- or 65-gallon cart.
• Blacksher Trash Service, a smaller local operator that runs Thursday routes around Platte City, Farley, and Waldron.

Shop around. Rural routes are priced by how far the truck has to drive, and two houses on the same gravel road can get different quotes from different haulers. Ask three things before you sign: what size cart you get, whether recycling is included, and who owns the cart.

Why "who owns the cart" matters

This is the part almost no one asks about until they move or switch haulers.

• KCMO carts belong to the city and stay with the house.
• Hauler carts on a subscription usually belong to the hauler. Switch from Republic to GFL and the old cart goes back on the truck.
• Carts you bought yourself go with you.

Whoever owns it, the cleaning is on you. No hauler in the metro washes carts as part of standard service. A cart gets emptied, not cleaned, and a year of drips from meat trays, diapers, and pet waste builds a film on the floor that a garden hose moves around without killing. Our pressure washing breakdown explains why cold water doesn't cut it.

Rural Platte County carts have one more problem: distance. When the cart sits at the end of a 300-foot gravel drive, it doesn't get rinsed. It also draws raccoons and opossums that don't bother city streets as often. A clean cart gives them less reason to stop.

Platte County trash FAQs

Does Platte County offer trash pickup for unincorporated areas?

No. Residents outside city limits subscribe to a private hauler such as Republic Services, Platte Valley Sanitation, or a local operator. Nothing is collected unless you sign up.

What day is trash pickup in Riverside, MO?

Friday, through GFL. If a holiday falls midweek, pickup moves to Saturday that week.

I live in Platte County. Why is my trash picked up by Kansas City?

Much of southern Platte County, including Tiffany Springs and the area around KCI, is inside Kansas City, MO limits. Those homes get KCMO city service and city-issued carts.

Do you clean bins in Platte County?

Yes. Our trucks run the Platte County side of Kansas City plus Parkville and Weatherby Lake every week. For Riverside, Platte Woods, Platte City, and unincorporated addresses, text (816) 820-1078 with your address and we'll confirm the route.

What do you use to clean the cart?

200°F water and a pet-safe deodorizer made with essential oils. No soap, no bleach, and all the wash water is captured on the truck, so nothing runs into your yard, your ditch, or the lake.

What to do this week

1. Find out which of the four setups you're on. Check your invoice or tax bill, or look up your street on the trash day map.
2. If you're unincorporated, get a second quote. Rural pricing varies more than people expect.
3. Ask who owns your cart, especially if you're thinking about switching haulers.
4. Get the cart cleaned before it freezes. Code FIRST50 drops a one-time clean from $75 to $37.50, or the quarterly first clean from $45 to $22.50, with service at $15 a month after that. Sign up here. We clean the day after your pickup, at the curb, and nobody needs to be home.