Brookhaven has suspended its recycling program, effective immediately.

During Tuesday evening’s meeting of the Board of Aldermen, Richard Urrutia of Arrow Disposal Services Inc. — the city’s residential garbage collection service — informed the board that there are no longer any recycling vendors within the Brookhaven market area that accept the type of mixed-material recycling currently required by the city.

ADSI contacted various recycling processing plants and discovered that several have ceased operations due to the crash of the global recycling market. Vendors that remain open are charging exorbitant fees and requiring unrealistic guidelines, Urrutia said. Many municipalities across the country have been forced to drastically reduce or cease their recycling programs.

“This means that effective immediately, ADSI will have no choice but to stop picking up recycled products placed at the curb in recycle bins,” said Mayor Joe Cox. “All residents within Brookhaven city limits need to immediately begin combining their recyclable materials with their regular household garbage and place it in secured plastic bags in your ADSI household garbage bins. ADSI will deliver the mix of recyclable material and household garbage to the City’s transfer station until further notice. In the meantime, ADSI will continue seeking out other possible recyclable processing plants for our city.”

The following is an outline provided by Mayor Cox of what this means for residents living within Brookhaven city limits.

1. ADSI will immediately discontinue recycle pickup for all residents.
2. This will result in changes to a portion of the Tuesday household garbage collection route.
3. Tuesday’s area affected: Garbage pickup for residents and businesses located west of the railroad tracks, north of Industrial Park Road, including Broken Lane, and a portion of Union Street Extension will now be on Monday beginning Aug. 10. Tuesday garbage pickup for residents and businesses outside of this area will remain the same. Refer to the map outline provided. For the new Monday garbage collection schedule, please ensure all household garbage and recyclable materials are in secured plastic bags and placed in ADSI bins curbside by 6 p.m. Sunday evening.
4. Currently, all other assigned days for household garbage pickup remain the same.
5. All residents should immediately begin combining recyclable materials with regular household garbage and place in secured plastic bags in their ADSI garbage bins.
6. ADSI will only pick up household garbage items, which now include recyclable materials, in secured plastic bags.
7. ADSI cannot pick up loose items such as plastic bottles, aluminum cans, etc.
8. ADSI will continue to pick up cardboard boxes as they did before.
9. Since this could be a very fluid situation moving forward, we suggest residents keep their recycle bins in hopeful anticipation of starting a future recycling program.

“Brookhaven residents and officials have worked diligently for many years to establish an effective recycling program to reduce waste, improve our environment and keep our city beautiful,” Cox said, noting it was disturbing to discover the program could not continue.

“Now, more than ever, we need your help to lessen all recyclable materials. We ask for your patience as we explore our options moving forward. Contact the City Hotline at 601-835-8025 with questions you may have,” said Cox. “Thank you for your patience during this transition.”