KANSAS  CITY, Mo. — One metro non-profit aims to make composting and recycling easier. KC Can Compost partnered with Kansas City, Missouri leaders on Thursday, introducing new composting smart cans. They’re like dropoff spots for unused food, and technology is used to make sure the wrong things don’t get inside. Wyandotte High School teacher hurt in fight between students A ribbon-cutting for the first three cans happened on Thursday afternoon outside the Greg Klice Community Center at 16th and Paseo, where the first smart can sits. Environmental experts say unused food that gets into our landfills emits methane gas, which over time, is harmful for the environment. Users will need to download a free mobile app that can be used to unlock the cans, which look a little like a mail collection bin. Using this method helps keep unwanted stuff out of the smart cans. “If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world,” Kristan Chamberlain, who directs KC Can Compost, said. That non-profit partners with Kansas City’s Departments of Public Works and Neighborhoods.  “We want to expand to more and more people, yet, when we do this, we run more and more risk of increasing the contamination rates. What this technology does is it allows us to expand to more people, and yet it controls the contamination for us,” Chamberlain said. “In 10 years, we think it’s an exponential decrease in waste going to our landfills, making composting and recycling so much easier for people in Kansas City,” Brian Platt, Kansas City Manager, said. Questions surround removal of Kansas City parks board member Chamberlain adds that for now, there are only three of these composting dropoff points, but she expects five more in the next two months.  For now, those cans are located at: -Greg Klice Community Center — 1600 E 17th Terrace -Roanoke Community Center — 3601 Roanoke Road -Kansas City River Market — near Steamboat Arabia Chamberlain said people who are interested in getting a KC Can Compost smart can for their neighborhood can contact that non-profit at (816) 912-3286 or [email protected].