Moving resources
How to get rid of moving boxes in Kansas City
Fifty boxes, a box cutter and a Sunday. Here's where each one goes in Johnson County, which drop-offs take the overflow, and how to turn the pile into someone else's lucky find.
Sort it
Where does this box go?
Pick your city and answer three questions. The rule is the county's, the details are your city's.
What shape is the box in?
Anything still in it?
How big is the pile?
Curbside
Curbside. Flatten it, tape on.
Flatten it, leave the tape on, and keep it dry. That's the Johnson County rule, and it holds in every city here.
Overland Park has no city-wide hauler, so the company you hired sets your bin size and pickup day. The prep is the county rule. If your pile is bigger than the bin, the city's own recycling center on Hardy Street takes it for free.
Before any of that: a box in this shape is worth more standing up. Post the stack on Nextdoor or a Buy Nothing group and it leaves your driveway on its own. More on that below.
Next move, skip the pile.
Totes arrive before you pack and leave with us after. Nothing to flatten, nothing to drive anywhere.
We deliver across Johnson County. See packages.
The short version
Three ways out
In the order to try them.
1
Give them away first
A dry, intact box is worth more standing up than flat. Post the stack on Nextdoor, a Buy Nothing group or U-Haul's Box Exchange and it's off your driveway by the weekend, usually to someone packing for the next one.
2
Curbside for the rest
Flatten it, leave the tape on, keep it dry. That's the Johnson County rule and it holds in every city here. What changes by city is the bin size, and whether you had to hire the hauler yourself.
3
Drop-off for the pile
A bin takes a week's worth of cardboard, not a whole house. Five sites in the county take it, four are free to anyone in the metro, and two of them never close. Load the car once and be done.
By city
What changes by city, and what doesn't
The prep rule is the county's. Who picks it up, and how big the bin is, is a city decision.
- Overland Park
- There's no city-wide hauler, so the company you hired sets your bin size and pickup day. Prep is the county rule. The city's own recycling center on Hardy Street takes the overflow for free, and the city was reviewing its hauler arrangement in 2026, so check before you assume.
- Prairie Village
- One hauler for the whole city, so recycling comes with the address. Flatten, tape on, into the bin.
- Olathe
- The city runs its own service and adds one rule: cut boxes down to 4 feet by 2 feet and everything has to fit inside the bin with the lid closed. Ask for a second 95-gallon recycling bin and it's free.
- Everywhere else in Johnson County
- Same prep, flatten, tape on, dry. The county licenses the haulers but doesn't assign them, so bin size and pickup day come from whoever collects yours. If you've just arrived, the city website says who that is.
New to the county? The moving checklist has the trash and utility steps in order.
Drop-off
Five places in Johnson County that take cardboard
Hours drift, so check before you drive. Two of these never close.
Overland Park Recycling Center
11921 Hardy St, Overland Park (off 119th, between Metcalf and Antioch)
Free to the whole metroCardboard and most everything elseThe big one. Open Tuesday to Saturday and busy on weekends, so check the hours before you load the car.
Olathe Recycling Center West
135 S Kansas Ave, Olathe
Free to the whole metro24/7Cardboard and glass onlyUnstaffed bins you can use at any hour. Flatten, and leave the tape on.
Olathe Recycling Center East
2000 E Santa Fe St, Olathe (in the At Home parking lot)
Free to the whole metro24/7Cardboard and glass onlySame setup as West, on the other side of town. Flatten, and leave the tape on.
Waste Management drop-off at the Johnson County Landfill
I-435 and Holliday Drive, Shawnee, at the landfill entrance
Takes cardboardListed by the county as a recycling drop-off. Confirm the hours before you go.
Olathe Community Recycling Center
1100 N Hedge Lane, Olathe (at the composting facility)
Olathe residents onlyCardboard and most everything elseFull-service, staffed, and for Olathe residents. Bring proof of address.
Give them away
The best box is the one that moves twice
Fifty new boxes run $125 to $150, and the person who needs them next week is on Nextdoor right now asking. A box that gets used twice is the cheapest recycling there is. It costs you a photo and a post.
Nextdoor and a Buy Nothing group are fastest. U-Haul runs a Box Exchange board for exactly this, Facebook Marketplace works, and a stack at the curb with a Free sign disappears on most streets. If you bought U-Haul boxes and never opened some, they buy unused ones back with a receipt.
Keep them standing and taped, because a flat box looks like work. Bundle by size, say the count and the cross street, and say first come. Give it a deadline. Gone by Sunday, and whatever’s left goes in the bin.
A box someone can use is worth more than a box someone can recycle.
Keep it out
What doesn't go in the bin
Wet or soaked
Rain, a leaky basement, the box that sat under the cooler. Once the fiber is wet it can't be recycled. Tear off the dry part if there is one and trash the rest.
Greasy or food-soiled
The county's one exception is pizza boxes. A moving box that carried the cast-iron skillet or caught the pantry spill is not a pizza box. That one's trash.
Packing material inside
Foam, bubble wrap and plastic film all have to come out. Foam is trash, film goes back to a grocery-store bag drop, and packing paper can go in with the cardboard.
Bigger than the bin
In Olathe boxes get cut to 4 feet by 2 feet and the lid has to close. Everywhere else, if it doesn't fit flattened, it's a drop-off run or a second week.
The eco part
The life of a moving box, honestly
5 to 7
times a paper fiber survives recycling before it's too short to bond, per the EPA
69 to 74%
of the cardboard that could be recycled in the US actually was in 2024, per AF&PA
A new box is mostly fiber that has been a box before. Every trip through the mill shortens it, and after five to seven trips it won’t hold together. Recycling cardboard isn’t a loop. It’s a slope, and every box is somewhere on the way down.
A moving box gets one move, usually one day of it, then takes one of three exits. Recycled, if it was flat and dry and made it to the bin. Landfilled, where paper breaks down without oxygen and gives off methane. Or handed on, the only exit that costs nothing, and the one most of this page is about.
Nationally, roughly a quarter of the cardboard that could be recycled isn’t, and a moving box is a strong candidate. It’s taped, it got rained on in the driveway, and it’s in the way during the one week you have no energy left for it.
Our version is shorter. A tote goes out, comes back, gets washed and goes out again, dozens of times before it retires. It never gets flattened because it never gets thrown away. When one is finally done it goes to a plastics recycler, since at 18.75 gallons it’s too big for a curbside bin. The honest caveat lives on the cardboard guide: a tote only wins because it’s reused.
50 totes for most two and three bedroom homes, delivered across Johnson County.
Questions
Common questions about getting rid of moving boxes
Yes, in every city in the county. Flatten each box, leave the tape on, and keep it dry. Olathe adds a size rule: cut boxes down to 4 feet by 2 feet so everything fits inside the bin with the lid closed. What differs by city is who collects it. Prairie Village contracts one hauler for everyone, Olathe runs its own service, and in Overland Park you hire your own hauler, so the bin size and pickup day are theirs.
No. Johnson County says to flatten your boxes and that there's no need to remove tape, and the Olathe drop-off sites say the same about tape and cellophane windows. The pulping process screens them out. What you do have to remove is anything inside the box: foam, bubble wrap, plastic film and packing peanuts can't ride along.
The Overland Park Recycling Center at 11921 Hardy Street, just off 119th between Metcalf and Antioch. It takes cardboard and most other recyclables, it's free to anyone in the Kansas City metro, and it's open Tuesday through Saturday. It gets busy on weekends and the city has been studying whether to expand or move it, so check the hours on the city's website before you load the car.
Nextdoor and a local Buy Nothing group are the fastest. Post a photo, the count and a cross street, and say first come. U-Haul's Box Exchange is a bulletin board built for exactly this, and Facebook Marketplace works too. A stack at the curb with a Free sign disappears on most streets, though check your HOA first. If you bought U-Haul boxes and never used some, they buy unused ones back with a receipt.
No. Johnson County's rule is that wet or food-contaminated cardboard goes in the trash. Wet fiber won't pulp cleanly and it can spoil the dry material around it. If only a corner got wet, tear that part off and recycle the rest. The same goes for grease and food. Pizza boxes are the county's one exception, and a moving box isn't one.
Nothing you have to do. We collect them, wash them and send them out on the next move, and the same tote does that dozens of times. There's no flattening, no bin and no drive to a drop-off, which is most of what this page is about. When a tote is finally worn out it goes to a plastics recycler, because at 18.75 gallons it's too big for a curbside bin.
Still deciding between boxes and totes? Read cardboard vs. plastic moving boxes, or get a count from the box calculator. We deliver in Overland Park, Olathe, Prairie Village and the rest of Johnson County.
Next move, skip the pile
Totes arrive before you pack and leave with us after. Pick a package, enter your ZIP, and choose a delivery window.