Hurricane Sally disrupts recycling programs in Mississippi
BILOXI, Miss. (AP) — Recycling programs on Mississippi's Gulf Coast are facing disruptions after Hurricane Sally damaged a Florida recycling center.
Jackson County has put its recycling program on hold, and WLOX-TV reports Waste Management in Moss Point recently announced the suspension of curbside recycling beginning Monday because a regional recycling facility in Florida has been temporarily sidelined.
Current estimates for repairs to the Florida facility range from four to six weeks, according to WLOX.
Mississippi's Harrison County will decide Thursday whether or not to put its recycling program on hold until the Florida facility is back up and running. For now, recyclables are being collected but not recycled.
“We’ve been stockpiling it as much as possible,” said John Wilson, executive director of the Harrison County Utility Authority. “And then landfilling the overflow so that we don’t change the program without having all the information.”
Wilson said the agency wants to try to haul to recyclables to a different site, but that comes with a price tag.
“There’s other facilities that could take it, but their cost is — the ones we’ve talked to so far — is somewhat prohibitive,” Wilson said.