Grant awarded for recycling program in Pike

MCCOMB, Miss. (AP) - Mayor Whitney Rawlings’ crusade for curbside recycling in McComb by 2015 is a step closer to reality.

Rawlings announced this past week that city has been approved for a $124,000 Cooperative Recycling Grant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to expand recycling with the Keep Pike County Beautiful program and extend it for at least a year.

McComb, Pike County and the communities of Magnolia, Osyka and Summit have chipped in $17,500 for the recycling program, with McComb and Pike County contributing $7,500, Magnolia and Summit $1,000 and Osyka $500.

“That gave our grant application strength, with everybody in Pike County on board and kicking in money,” Rawlings said.

The Enterprise-Journal reported (https://bit.ly/1n0QpWL) trash collection company Waste Management will place recycling bins in Magnolia, Osyka and Summit, and the bin and compactor at Fire Station 4 in McComb will continue to operate.

No specific location has been set for the three planned new containers, but security cameras, signs, lights and fences will be added around them like the one in McComb.

Rawlings said the city would advertise for a program manager soon, and employee would be responsible for visiting each site regularly and traveling around the community to educate residents about the importance of recycling.

In the grant proposal, Rawlings budgeted $35,000 for the manager’s salary.

Since kicking off the program with one bin in McComb in October 2013, the amount of material hauled to the recycling center in Sumrall has increased, starting with 4.65 tons in the first month and jumping to 6.95 tons by February.

“I’m just thrilled because we’ve found through this little effort we’re making out here that people are responding,” Rawlings said. “If we can continue to do this for another 12 months, then we believe we can renegotiate our contract with Waste Management and bring curbside recycling to the city, and we hope to educate our public in such a manner that 25, 35 percent of our population would actually recycle.”

Rawlings said paperwork for the grant will be completed later this month and program operations in Magnolia, Osyka and Summit should begin soon thereafter.

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Information from: Enterprise-Journal, https://www.enterprise-journal.com