Does Jackson have a recycling program? What about the state? Curious Mississippi answers

Editor's note: This is the latest edition of Curious Mississippi, a service to the readers of the Clarion Ledger. Other questions answered by Curious Mississippi have surrounded potholes, UMMC construction, cicadas and the international nature of the Jackson airport. Readers can submit questions by email to [email protected] and editors will pick out the best and reporters will answer them in an upcoming edition.

After years of fighting and disagreements between city leaders, the City of Jackson was finally able to nail down a long-term, six year garbage collection contract last week.

So, is it too soon to talk about recycling?

Back in 2019, the city suspended the curbside recycling program until further notice.

But don't get it twisted, the city still offers various places around town where residents can drop off recycling for free. Those places include, The Jackson Zoo, Westside Community Center, Smith Wills Stadium, The Tougaloo College Community Center and The Environmental Service Center.

Currently, the drop-off sights only accept plastics for recycling but there are plans to expand "in the coming weeks," according to the city's solid waste supervisor Lakesha Weathers. The drop-off recycling program is a partnership between the city and Keep Jackson Beautiful, a nonprofit formed in January 1964 in the capital city. Along with the recycling program, the city and the nonprofit team up to host community clean-ups throughout Jackson.

A lifelong Jackson resident, Weathers has worked for the city for 24 years. Starting out in the water department, Weathers moved to the Solid Waste Division in 2012 and took over as supervisor in 2019.

As far as the curb-side program, Weathers said it was discontinued because of the city's "limited financial resources."

Other reasons why the curbside recycling program was suspended was due to recyclable materials being cross contaminated and a lack of participation among residents. Less than a third of Jackson residents participated in the curbside program, Weathers said.

"We see more participation currently with the drop-off program than we saw with the curbside program, Weathers said. "To date from last year, they collected over 18,000 pounds. So we've seen great success with that drop-off program."

Lastly, Weathers said "the decline in the global recycling market" as a reason for the end of curbside recycling in the city.

"Haulers had difficulty making profits from it because the recycled material was so contaminated," Weathers said.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba also touched on this at a press conference last week. The Clarion Ledger asked Lumumba his thoughts about more recycling programs for the city in the future.

"Unfortunately, we (Jackson) don't have a good history (with recycling) and the United States doesn't have a good history in the recycling space. We do it very poorly," Lumumba said. "The global industry, namely China who is one of the biggest consumers of our recycled items has largely reduced what they take in from the United States because they say they have a lot of expense actually separating recycled items from things that can't be recycled."

Lumumba did say the city will "continue to look for a suitable operation for recycling."

Even the Environmental Protection Agency admits that recycling across the country faces challenges such as consumers having a hard time understanding what materials can be recycled, the country's recycling infrastructure not keeping pace with the amount of waste Americans generate and weakened domestic and international markets

"Historically, some of the recycled materials generated in the United States have been exported internationally. However, changing international policies have limited the export of materials," the EPA's website states. "We need to better integrate recycled materials and end-of-life management into product and packaging designs. We need to improve communication among the different sectors of the recycling system to strengthen existing materials markets and to develop new innovative markets."

The EPA also states there needs to be more methodologies to measure recycling system performance, which can then be used to track progress and enact effective goals.

How to know if where you live has a recycling program

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality provides a statewide recycling directory on its website.

There is a list of counties that will show all of the recycling programs in each city or municipality, which the MDEQ regularly updates. Currently, there are 74 local government and private recyclers in the state.

Wells said the directory does not include scrap metal dealers, but those can be found on the Secretary of State's Office's website.

In Hinds County, only the City of Clinton has a curbside program. There are other private recycling facilities in the county: D.D.J. Recycling, based in Clinton, which offers drop-off services and Environmentality, LLC, based in Jackson, which offers pick-up and drop-off services with a subscription. Another company, Door 2 Door Recycling, also offers pick-up services for a subscription.

Keep Jackson Beautiful and the City of Jackson are also listed in the MDEQ's directory.

How does the state of Mississippi handle recycling?

Currently, the state does not require reporting of local governments or private businesses on recycling.

"We currently have a voluntary measurement program but not all recycling programs and businesses participate," said Jennifer Wells, the recycling coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.

"We are working towards a required reporting system, but this has been a challenge because we want to encourage recycling and not create a system that puts additional pressure on these entities, which could have the opposite effect.  Approximately 50% of our state residents have access to recycling services," Wells said.

But Mississippi does have a Recycling and Waste Reduction Program, which was started in the early 1990s with the adoption of several state statutes, Wells said.

According to the MDEQ website, "the program works with municipal, county, state and federal governments, commercial and industrial facilities, military facilities, schools, institutions including colleges, universities and hospitals, and the general public."

Four goals the program hopes to accomplish include:

1. Increase the amount of recycling and composting in the state

2. Increase awareness and efforts of non-hazardous and hazardous waste pollution prevention

3. Increase awareness and efforts of buying products manufactured from recycled materials

4. Educate the public of the importance of recycling and solid waste reduction.

Wells said there are two statutes the Mississippi legislature have enacted to help decrease waste

• Miss. Code Ann. § 17-17-227: The Non-Hazardous Solid Waste Planning Act requires local government to develop a 20-year local solid waste plan. The plan includes reducing waste by 25%, but it doesn't necessarily mean that local governments have to set up a recycling program.

• Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-5: Part of this statue describes the states waste reduction goal, stating "The state's goal is to reduce the quantity of waste generated within Mississippi by a minimum of twenty-five percent (25%) by January 1, 1996." When asked if there has been an updated goal since, Wells said "no."

If a city or municipality wants to start a recycling program, are there any requirements or regulations they must meet for the MDEQ?

Other than the statutes described above, MDEQ does not have any requirements for local government recycling programs.

But if a city or municipality operates a recycling facility, it would be regulated by the Mississippi Nonhazardous Solid Waste Management Regulations, Wells said.

Those regulations establish "minimum State criteria … for all solid waste management facilities," which can include recycling facilities, landfills, rubbish sites, processing facilities, land application sites, composting facilities and any other stations or areas that store collections of solid waste.

Solid Waste Assistance Grants are offered by the MDEQ. The grants can be used to start a new or enhance a current recycling program. The grants are offered to local governments only and awardees of the grants are regulated under the Solid Waste Assistance Grant Funds Regulations, Wells said.

Does MDEQ have fines or penalties if a city or municipality does not meet recycling standards in the state?

Simple answer: no.

Cities and counties must only have a 20-year solid waste plan that states their goals of how to reduce waste. Recycling is a good way to reduce, Wells said.

"But no, we do not penalize our cities and counties for not having a recycling program. We encourage our cities and counties to start and grow recycling programs," Wells said. "We also offer technical guidance to our local governments. Our goal is to work with our local governments, however we can, to help them start and grow recycling programs."

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Where to recycle in Jackson, MS. Curious Mississippi answers