The city has received 900 35-gallon recycling containers, which will be distributed free to anyone to wants them.

First announced at the Board of Alderman meeting Oct. 21 by Ward 6 David Phillips, the containers will be given out on a first come, first served basis to people who live within the Brookhaven city limits.

These containers are made possible through a grant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality shared by the city of Brookhaven, Natchez and Wilkinson County. The two-year grant was applied for 18 months ago and with the arrival of the containers, the city is excited to see the change the containers make.

“Now that the containers are here, we’ll be in the schools,” Linda Moak said.

Moak is a volunteer who’s been involved with Brookhaven’s recycling efforts for five and a half years. Moak assists the city’s recycling program by providing help with education, public relations and “keeping the ball rolling,” she said.

Moak said much of Brookhaven’s current recycling efforts were born out of a proposal from a local Girl Scouts troop and a changing of waste providers. In order to gain the Gold Award, the highest award in the Girl Scouts program, a group of scouts developed a proposal to ask Brookhaven to put together a recycling program. Also, the City of Brookhaven changed providers to Waste Pro allowing the city more recycling opportunities.

“They conducted a pilot program with two drop offs and after a couple of months there were enough people recycling we could upgrade to curbside recycling,” Moak said.

Waste Pro currently provides curbside pickup for Brookhaven residents who use city issued 18-35 gallon blue recycling containers.

“Waste Pro uses mix-stream so residents don’t have to separate their recyclables. They can keep it all together in one place,” Moak said.

Brookhaven currently recycles plastic bottles and jugs number one and two, aluminum and metal cans, newspaper, cardboard and mixed paper. You can find out the number of a plastic bottle or jug by looking for the symbol on the materials.

“The city is currently at 23 percent recycling and our goal is to reach 45 percent,” Moak said.

She and the city hope the new bins will help increase the numbers to make the goal a reality. Moak will also assist the city with educational programs in the schools to teach students the importance of recycling. The educational programs will be the second part to each city public school receiving four 35-gallon containers each and the public library receiving one container. The private school will be getting containers through private funding Moak said.

Fifty-seven permanent recycling bins will be placed next to city trash bins around the parks, downtown and city buildings. “It’s just a small thing anybody can do to help our environment,” Moak said. “It reduces the amount of solid waste the city has to pay for, helps the environment and makes the city more progressive.”

For more information, anyone interested can visit the new Brookhaven Recycles website through the city’s main website, www.brookhavenms.com.