Just more than a year ago, approximately 1 out of 10 residents in the City of Natchez dutifully filled a little blue bin and hauled it to the street on Wednesdays.

That was the start of the city’s curbside recycling program — a small, but faithful group leading the way.

After a year of marketing and perhaps a little neighborhood peer pressure, the number of recycling residents has doubled, which is a good start, organizers say.

The program has been successful enough that the company that’s sorting and processing the material says it may turn a profit on the business in the next year or two.

That’s good news — and not just for the recycling company.

If recycling can truly become more widespread in the area, the whole community wins. More recycling means less trash buried in landfills.

Increased recycling may also foster a renewed sense of pride in the community — one that is sorely needed here. It illustrates that people care about the world around them and that’s important, both to future generations and those of us living here now.

We hope recycling efforts continue to have success in the months and years to come.