Waste Management set to collect hazardous waste from city residents

By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
July 3, 2002
Meridian residents will be able discard bottles of pesticides, old paint and other chemically harmful, hazardous waste on July 27.
Residents may drop off items at Waste Management headquarters at 2301 Sellers Drive in what city leaders are calling "Amnesty Day."
Meridian city council members voted 5-0 Tuesday to pay Waste Management to accept hazardous materials. The cost of the service to the city was unavailable Tuesday.
Waste Management provides residential garbage pickup throughout Meridian. The company, however, doesn't normally pickup hazardous waste on its residential trash routes.
Monty Jackson, the city's public works director, said the "Amnesty Day" is a time for "residents to dispose of their hazardous materials that normally could cost them a lot of money."
Jackson said Waste Management was contracted to accept the hazardous trash because a licensed handler was needed to collect it.
OTHER BUSINESS
Notes from the Tuesday meeting of the Meridian City Council:
City council members voted 3-2 for the Meridian Police Department to apply for a $77,022 Law Enforcement Block Grant. They also named Capt. Keith McCary as block grant administrator.
Councilmen Bobby Smith and George Thomas voted against the grant proposal. Thomas said he opposed it because the city would split the money with the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department.
The Tuesday meeting marked the first time Ward 2 Councilwoman Mary Perry officially served in her new role as council president.
Perry was out of town last month, when she was unanimously chosen for the job. Perry said Tuesday that she was honored to serve as council president.