By Rupert Howell

Panola County Solid Waste Department is this month “kick-starting” a program that is now in its sixth month while volunteer recycling in the city of Batesville is showing slow and steady growth according to Panola County Administrator Kelley Magee.

Magee and Solid Waste Department Director Jennifer Jackson are closely watching over Panola County’s Solid Waste Department both to save money and improve services.

That department handles solid waste for all Panola County  and its municipalities. When the City of Batesville asked for a recycling option in their bid for services, Magee located a grant from the state in the amount of $44,500 to purchase equipment.

Roll-off dumpsters were then located on Van Voris Street at the city’s lot and the program got under way. Trucks currently owned by the county are used to haul the dumpsters to an Oxford recycling center which graciously accepts Batesville’s recyclables. The dumpsters are color coded and clearly marked.

But there are still a few problems according to Magee who mentioned people putting household garbage, flower pots and plastic lawn furniture into the dumpsters.

“One bag of garbage can contaminate the whole load,” Magee said and also noted that recyclables should not be left in plastic bags and put into bins.”

For those that are uninformed, plastic items have a recycling emblem with number and the recyclable plastic for the local bin only accepts #1 and #2 plastic.

Another bin nearby on Van Voris or the Courtland transfer station is the place to put the other plastic and rubbish at present.

Also old unmounted tires can be taken to the Courtland transfer station.

That location is designed for easy access to discard unwanted items or rubbish that doesn’t fall in the category of waste that you would put into your residential container.

The monitored station located on McNeely Road near Courtland just east of 51 Highway is open during the week from 7:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. and from 8 a.m. until 12 noon every first and third Saturday.

According to information provided by Panola County Sanitation Department, “Sixty percent of the rubbish that ends up in the trash could be recycled.”