VIDALIA — Vidalia’s curbside recycling plan could start in two weeks if everything goes according to plan.

Alderman Ricky Knapp, who first suggested the most recent effort to get a recycling program started, said the city’s recycling bins shipped this week and should be delivered by Friday.

Knapp said the bins should start being delivered by mid-week next week. The first pickup day for recycling should be the first Wednesday after the bins are delivered to residents, he said.

Ideally, Knapp said, that will make the first pickup Oct. 2.

The city ordered 500 bins, and approximately 200 residents have signed up to receive them. Knapp said the bins would be provided to residents at no cost.

“If we could get 500 households to sign up, I think we would feel fairly successful,” he said.

The recycling materials will be picked up by a Vidalia city truck in the same manner as ordinary garbage pickup, but rather than taking the recycling to the landfill it will be taken to Concordia Metals, which also handles Natchez’s new curbside recycling program.

The alderman said that once recycling gets fully under way, the city could realize a financial advantage from the effort.

“Once we get that (program) established, (Concordia Metals) said we would eventually see some kind of monetary benefit from that,” Knapp said.

“We are not expecting that to be a whole lot of money in return, but we are looking at the money we will be saving in tipping fees in our landfill and the money we will be saving in fuel in trips to the landfill. The main benefit is that we are reusing our resources.”

To sign up for the program, visit www.misslourecycles.com or contact Vidalia City Hall at (318) 336-5206.