For the past three years, Brandie and Robert Renskowski have promoted recycling in their Picayune neighborhood, and for the past nine months, they’ve searched for a facility in the area to house their recycling business called Ne1 Recycling to offer the service to county residents.

In November, the city’s planning commission made a recommendation to the city council to allow the Renskowski’s to utilize a building at 950 Hunt St. as a recycling facility. However, the recommendation met with complaints from citizens about the location’s close proximity to a neighborhood, and as a result was voted down led by opposition from council members Lynn Bumpers and Larry Breland.

“The property in question touches up on a residential neighborhood and the constituents didn’t want that in their neighborhood and that was my rationale for voting against it,” Breland said. “Their concern is mine because while it may start out as something small, it may become a large company and make a negative impact on the neighborhood.” He added, “But I’m not against recycling. A more suitable location can be found for them that wouldn’t adversely affect residents.”

Brandie Renskowski said they aren’t giving up on finding a location that will allow them to jumpstart their recycling business in Pearl River County. Currently, they run the business at their home in Picayune.

The idea for Ne1 Recycling came about after they started placing recycling bins outside of their home during the week of America Recycles Day— a nationally recognized day on Nov. 15 dedicated to promoting recycling. Renskowski said neighbors would drop off recycling items, and as it grew in popularity, she and her husband saw a need to find a recycling facility in the county to help ensure recyclable products don’t end up in landfills.

“The number of items we have at the house is getting overwhelming and we’re looking for a location to do curbside pickup that way we can store, bale and then sell those items to brokers that would, in turn, make products out of the recyclable items,” Renskowski said.

They currently store all the recycled products at home. The items are collected by neighbors, businesses and staff at Pearl River Central High School. Renskowski said they have around 10 waste management bags filled with plastic bottles, including other recyclable products such as cardboard.

With a new location, Renskowski said they would have the ability to grow as a business and offer curbside pickup for households and businesses countywide. The business provides curbside bin and weekly pickup for $12 per year.

For the past two years, the city of Picayune has offered a curbside recycling program as part of the city’s solid waste collection contract with Progressive Waste Solutions, said Eric Morris, Picayune public works director.

The household items collected include, paper, cardboard and commingled containers.

“The items are picked up from households within the city limits. Businesses have the option to use the company to recycle or use another company,” Morris said.

The service began two years ago, at no cost to homeowners, and gave each household a recycling bin that homeowners could use if they want to recycle, Morris said.

“We don’t want to interfere with what the city is doing, we just want to provide a service for county residents,” Renskowski said.

She also said by promoting recycling in the county, it’ll teach the younger generation how important it is.

“That way we can help the county and make recycling more of a way of life,” she said.

For more information about Ne1 Recycling and what items they collect, visit their Facebook page at Ne1 Recycling, LLC, call Renskowski at 601-337-4127 or email her at ne1recycling@yahoo.com.