Recycling Centers in Mississippi

Recycling in Mississippi

Mississippi has 127 recycling centers across 69 cities, one of the widest city footprints in the South, covering county drop-off sites, scrap-metal yards, electronics recyclers, and household hazardous waste programs. Recycling policy in Mississippi is administered by the Waste Division of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). The state has set a 25 percent waste-reduction goal in state law and requires local governments to incorporate a waste-reduction strategy into their solid-waste management plans. Mississippi does not have a bottle-deposit law or a statewide mandatory residential recycling requirement.

The Jackson metro area and Gulf Coast cities anchor the state's recycling infrastructure. Jackson leads with 14 centers, and the Gulf Coast cities of Gulfport (7) and Biloxi (4) together add 11 more. Meridian lists 5, Hattiesburg and Laurel each have 4, and Flowood and Vicksburg round out the larger hubs with 4 centers each. In areas without local curbside programs — roughly 40 percent of the state's population — residents rely on these drop-off sites and county facilities.

Mississippi does not have a statewide e-waste landfill ban applicable to the general public. However, state law (Miss. Code § 49-2-101 et seq.) requires all Mississippi state agencies to use a certified electronics recycler — either R2 (SERI) or e-Stewards certified — when disposing of end-of-life electronics, a requirement in effect since July 1, 2014. MDEQ maintains and publishes an updated list of certified recyclers available to agencies, businesses, and the public. The agency also administers Regional Recycling Cooperative grants to help local governments and regional authorities build or expand recycling programs to reach the state's 25 percent goal.