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Mississippi significantly lacks access to community recycling services compared to the rest of the country. While 96% of Americans on average have access to local recycling programs, only 60% of Mississippi residents live in an area that provides either drop-off or curbside recycling programs.
Fortunately for Columbus and Starkville residents, they have some access to city-run recycling programs. Need to know where you can drop off your recycling? How about what materials can be recycled in each city? What happens to the recyclables after they are dropped off?
Columbus recycling
Dustin Rivers, division manager for the Waste Pro USA’s Columbus Office, said there are two ways for Columbus residents to recycle.
Recyclables including paper, cardboard, tin and aluminum cans can be dropped off in the recycling bins on North Second Street at the Hitching Lot Farmers Market. There used to be bins located at Cook Elementary School, but Rivers said they were removed due to residents dumping overflow household trash, like mattresses and tires, at the location.
Rivers said it is important that residents only leave recyclables like cardboard, paper and cans at these locations to prevent contamination.
“A lot of times, it’s trash in there,” he said. “Then it gets contaminated, and we have to throw it away. So we’re really working hard with the city to get people more involved with recycling.”
Columbus residents have options for discarding overflow trash as well. Overflow household trash refers to discarded items the landfill won’t take like electronics, mattresses and tires. These items, Rivers said, can be dropped off at the Waste Pro USA office during business hours.
After recyclables are discarded, everything is taken to Waste Pro USA’s recycling center on South Sixth Street where it is sorted by type of material. From there, other companies pick up the materials and recycle them for further use. One company recycles cardboard to create roofing materials, Rivers said.
The city of Columbus and Waste Pro are working on new ways to get the community involved with recycling, including ordering signage to better indicate where residents can take their recyclables.
“We’re working through trying to find better resources for all our recyclable materials,” Rivers said. “We’re trying to find creative ways for new companies that want to use the recycled materials.”
Starkville recycling
Starkville contracted with the Waste Pro USA Columbus office in fall 2020 to oversee the city’s “Think Green” recycling program after ending curbside recycling.
Residents can drop off recyclables at the Think Green site at the Starkville Sanitation and Environmental Services Department at 506 Dr. Douglas L. Conner Drive from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday or from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the first Saturday of each month.
Any cardboard, paper, tin and aluminum cans can be dropped off at the Think Green location. It does not accept plastic materials due to a limited local market for recyclable plastics. Glass is also not accepted.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
