STARKVILLE — Thousands of Starkville residents soon will have a convenient method of disposing of household garbage while helping to save the environment, according to Ward 3 Alderman Eric Parker.
Crews with the Starkville Sanitation Department beginning Oct. 7 will be collecting certain types of recyclable material from single-family residences across the city.
The program will operate much the same as the city”s curbside garbage pickup services, and recyclable pickup will occur twice each month.
“We already give out black trash bags to residents, but we have begun giving out green trash bags as well,” Parker, chairman of the city”s solid waste and recycling committee, explained. “Residents just put all their recyclables into that green bag, and the Sanitation Department will pick them up twice a month.”
The program is free, and is open to all Starkville residents who currently receive city curbside garbage pickup.
However, residents must sign up for the program at the Starkville Sanitation Department on Curry Street from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday or at the Starkville Community Market on South Lafayette Street from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturdays.
When signing up, residents must show a photo identification and proof of residency, such as a city electric or water bill, Parker explained.
Residents who receive Monday and Thursday garbage pickup will receive recycling pickup the first and third Wednesday of each month. Residents who receive garbage pickup on Tuesday and Friday will receive recycling pickup the second and fourth Wednesday of each month.
Because the Starkville Sanitation Department will deliver the green recycling bags to Starkville Recycling to be sorted and processed, residents will not be required to sort recyclables before placing them in the bag.
“All recycling will go into one bag,” Sharon Boyd, manager of the Starkville Sanitation Department, wrote in a press release.
“Our facilities and workers are ready for the job,” Stan Shurdan, owner of Starkville Recycling, added. “We will accept cardboard, office paper, magazines, phone books, aluminum cans, scrap metal, all plastics, electronics and batteries.”
The program does not cover glass items and will not be available to apartment complexes and anyone else not currently served by the city”s curbside garbage service.
“Really the only thing they will not accept is glass, but we hope we will be able to get that in the future,” Parker said. “It”s also only open to single-family homes right now. Basically, if you have curbside garbage pickup, you are eligible for the recycling program.
“It”s a volunteer program, but we are expecting it to grow a lot as more people find out about it,” Parker added. “We had 200 people sign up for it last Saturday. If you would have told me 50 people would have signed up, I would have thought we were doing really well.”
The program also may provide additional revenue for the city as more residents begin signing up for the program, Parker explained.
“After he (Shurdan) meets all of his expenses, any extra revenue generated will be split 60-40 with the city,” Parker said. “That means 60 percent of any extra revenue will go to Starkville Recycling and 40 percent will go back to the city.
“So we could potentially see some money coming back to the city once the program really gets going,” Parker added. “It will be a great program, and I know a lot of people have been waiting on it for a long time.”
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