Natchez Aldermen chose a garbage hauler and waste disposal company Tuesday night.

In the process, residents apparently gain three things:

First, the garbage pick up will continue as it has, and the city says there are no immediate plans to raise rates.

Second, part of the new garbage deal will provide each resident with a shiny new garbage can. It’s not exactly a Christmas present of free water, but it’s better than nothing, right?

Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, the new garbage deal will provide curbside recycling for the entire City of Natchez. That’s an admirable, if slightly ambitious, plan.

The original plan for recycling was to test a smaller segment of the community first to gauge interest and determine the feasibility of citywide recycling.

To go from virtually zero recycling to full citywide is a huge step. We hope the project takes off. We’re big fans of recycling, but we are concerned that the plan may be overly ambitious.

We urge the city and the volunteer recycling groups who are cheering the effort on to be careful and not allow the company to claim failure quickly and seek to end recycling altogether.

It’s important that this be done correctly, even if it means a slow, methodical implementation.

By our math, the new garbage deals — including new trash receptacles and curbside recycling — will cost the city more than $100,000 extra than the previous proposals.

That’s a chunk of money that the public needs to ensure is money well-invested through making certain recycling is a success.