No timetable on when trash pickup will resume in the capital city

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - If you live in Jackson, you may be wondering when or if your trash will be picked up again.

As of right now, city leaders are saying they still do not have that answer. During a town hall meeting on Tuesday, city leaders spoke to residents about the future of trash pickup.

Dozens were on hand expressing their thoughts and frustrations over the fact that the City of Jackson doesn’t have anyone responsible for picking up garbage.

”It’s all about the people. It’s not about the vendor,” said Howard Derrick, who attended the meeting. “Everyone deserves to have their garbage picked up.”

”We still left tonight not knowing when the people can expect their garbage to be picked up,” said Pastor P.J. Williams, of Cornerstone M.B. Church, which is where the meeting was held.

During the meeting, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba was giving residents updates on how we got to this point. For residents wanting their garbage picked up sooner rather than later, Lumumba said there’s only one company to do so.

”If you want your garbage picked up anytime in the near future without an RFP, which takes at least 90 days,” the mayor said. “If you want your trash picked up, Richard’s [Disposal] is the only one.”

However, Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes said the mayor’s explanation during the meetings wasn’t needed. Stokes abstained from the council’s vote on a garbage contract and said he wants it (the contract) to go to Waste Management.

The councilman said he wanted to hear from residents and workers with Richard’s Disposal on why they think he should change his vote. He said that didn’t happen.

”It wasn’t a meeting for him to come and try to take over. It was a meeting for people to come and express their concerns,” said Stokes. “If people would hear from Richard’s (Disposal), they could’ve had a chance to say, ‘Well look, we can do this. We would do this a little better. We will work with the community better.’ That’s what I was hoping the people with Richard’s would say. It seems like it turned into the mayor telling them, well, ‘I can do this, I can do that,’ but you can’t vote.”

As of Tuesday, there’s no timeline on when city leaders will meet again to try and pass a garbage contract. So in the meantime, the capital city remains without garbage pickup for the foreseeable future.

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