JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) - Recycling is being picked up in Jackson and Harrison counties after a recycling facility belonging to Waste Management was damaged last month during Hurricane Sally, causing some delays in pickup.

Curbside pickup of recyclable goods will resume on its normal schedule beginning Thursday in the unincorporated parts of Jackson County. While recycling pickup never stopped in Harrison County, the county will continue its operations without delays in all cities except Gulfport, which operates under a different contract.

As reported earlier this month, Waste Management’s Pensacola facility was heavily damaged by Hurricane Sally, causing recycling services to be temporarily suspended.

In the meantime, items collected in recycle bins will be placed in the garbage truck and landfilled until the recycling facility that’s used to process local recyclables is able to reopen.

Waste Management has stockpiled 60 tons of recyclable material since its facility was damaged.

The Harrison County Board of Supervisors is now looking for a temporary storage facility and should have one within a week after MDEQ approval.

Jackson County officials said that they’re hopeful that the recycling of materials will be able to resume by the end of October, but at this time, they don’t have a definitely timeline.

Officials say they don’t want to lose the recycling momentum.

“It would have taken just a downhill turn and we would have had to start all over again with our education and training and enthusiasm about how good it is to recycle," said Supervisor Connie Rocko. “We have worked on that for 20 years and we have our numbers up to almost 40 percent. And, we’re very proud of that and hope we can continue the rise of recycling.”

Therefore, until the facility opens, residents can do one of the following:

• Place recyclable items in your garbage cart(s) or bags and they will be collected on regularly scheduled garbage days. But, do not put garbage in the recycling carts.
• Hold on to recyclable material until the recycling facility reopens and the items will be collected and recycled at that time.

Officials expect the recycling center in Florida to be up and running in about four weeks.