New at-home recycling program could be coming to Vicksburg

The Mayor and Board of Aldermen heard a proposal from Dennis Wise, Vice President of Recyclops Monday morning, where city leaders responded positively to the environmental company’s presentation outlining the valuable service to residents  that would be provided while also creating new jobs in the community.

Recyclops has taken a new approach to the collection and processing of recyclables, taking advantage of gig-economy employees to provide at-home recycling service in communities that are underserved in recycling pickup services.  Similar to Uber or DoorDash, Recyclops hires local drivers to perform pick-ups in their own vehicles.  Wise says that on average, Recyclops hires one driver for every 70 homes enrolled in the service.  Drivers are part-time employees and the position pays an average of $25 per hour.

Recyclops is a subscription-based service where customers pay a monthly fee of $12 per month for recycling pick-up every two weeks.  The company provides proprietary bags for clean, un-sorted recyclables so that they are distinguishable to drivers and the bags, of course, are uniform LDPE plastic which makes them easier to recycle themselves.

Wise says that in order to start-up service in a new market, they require 100 pre-registered customers.  Vicksburg has already had 70 residents to pre-register for the service over the past week, indicating that there is a strong desire in the community for at-home recycling.  If you would like to pre-register, you can do so here.

Wise also expressed an interest in partnering with MIDD-West to process the recyclables.  “We would be more than happy to work with them to provide them materials so that they can do more work and get more value out of that,” Wise said.  “I just have not be able to connect with the leadership yet.”