Nell Scoggin said recycling comes naturally. The Pearl resident said she hates to waste.
“I hated to throw away things, particularly things that can be reused,” she said.
But for Scoggin and other Rankin County residents, recycling is hard work. She has to drive her recyclables to Brandon every couple of weeks.
While many metro-area cities – including Jackson, Clinton and Ridgeland – pick up recyclables from the foot of residents’ driveways, no city in Rankin offers the service.
Rankin officials say curbside pickup is too expensive. But what it means in terms of wasting resources concerns some residents.
“It doesn’t seem like anyone in Pearl is interested in recycling plastics or glass,” Scoggin said. “I go to the closest place – Brandon. I realize it would be expensive for them to pick up every week and it wouldn’t be feasible, but once every two or three weeks would be feasible.”
Brandon had curbside pickup about eight years ago but canceled it because it didn’t have enough citywide usage and wasn’t cost-effective, Mayor Tim Coulter said.
Flowood ran a pilot program 10 years ago. Results showed curbside pickup was not feasible, Mayor Gary Rhoads said.
“It’s so costly doing it at the house,” he said, saying that’s why the city set up a dropoff site for plastics, paper and aluminum. It’s one of three dropoff sites in the 806-square-mile county.
Board of Supervisors President Greg Wilcox said cost has been a factor in expanding recycling to unincorporated Rankin County.
Waste Management area manager Buford Clark estimates curbside recycling services would cost $3-$4 per home, per month. Waste Management picks up recyclables in Ridgeland and Madison, among other metro-area cities.
“Our best participation is 40-50 percent,” Clark said. “That’s good, but if everyone is paying $4, it’s not good enough. That’s why many elected officials have a problem with recycling – because they know that’s the stats.”
Darlene Slater, who serves on Pearl’s Urban Forestry Board and Keep Pearl Beautiful, said strides have been made to get a dropoff site in Pearl. She said questions about how the city would deal with improper items has bogged down the movement.
Coulter said Brandon hasn’t given up on recycling.
“We haven’t forgotten it,” the mayor said. “We have talked with Waste Management to see if they can go back and review the fees. We may have a trial period.”
Alderwoman Yvonne Bianchi added, “If we could get the whole city on board, I would be all for it. A lot of kids have mentioned it to us in board meetings. I think it’s something we need to do.”
Bianchi said her subdivision, Crossgates, had OK participation, but it wasn’t enough to carry the city.
Although Rankin officials blame cost as a major deterrent, a few Mississippi cities are making it work. Ridgeland’s program started in 1992, and Mayor Gene McGee said he’s glad to see recycling reduce what the city puts into landfills.
“I know because I experience it everyday in my home,” McGee said. “Since we began our program, I can go over two weeks without putting out any garbage.
“It is important that we understand that the landfills are filling up, and we don’t need to keep wasting our resources. The recycling program also helps keep the cost of garbage service to our citizens at a lower cost.”
Flowood’s Rhoads said he expects one day the city will expand it’s services to curbside recycling .
“It’s all about educating the people,” Rhoads said. “As landfill costs skyrocket, we would look into running another (curbside) pilot program if it was a cost benefit to the city.”
The soured economy has impacted the cost-effectiveness of recycling, stifling the market values for recyclables, Clark said.
“My hopes are that one day we mirror the other parts of the country,” Clark said. “Landfill costs versus recycling cost – they’re an even swap right now.”
Clark also recycles in his Madison County home, saying he feels people should be “good stewards of our land.”
“I do it in my home because it’s the right thing to do,” Clark said.
The Clarion-Ledger, A7, March 1, 2010
