NATCHEZ — Adams County residents who don’t want to go green will have an opportunity Monday to let others take their place in a county recycling program.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors is asking any county resident who received a blue recycling bin through the curbside recycling program and doesn’t want to participate to place their bins upside down on the curb of their house Monday.

Crews with Waste Pro, the company that picks up recyclable materials in Natchez and Adams County, will collect the recycling bins throughout the day.

The request to return the bins came after members of the board of supervisors were told they were paying for a program that only had a 50-percent participation rate.

“The county is paying for 500 people to recycle, but we’ve only got 250 people participating,” Supervisor Mike Lazarus said. “That’s not a bad rate, but we also have a lot of other people saying they want to get involved with the program.”

Lazarus said he hopes to see those who don’t wish to participate in the program allow those who do want to get involved a chance to recycle and use the bins.

“I’m sure with all the people in the county we have 500 people who want to be a part of this program, but we just have to figure out a way to make that happen,” Lazarus said. “If they’re not going to use theirs, we hope they’ll let someone else give it a try.”

The bins can also be returned to Waste Pro’s yard at 396 1/2 Liberty Road.

Residents who want to participate in the curbside recycling program can sign up by going to misslourecycles.com and clicking on the Adams County sign up link or by calling the county administration office at 601-442-2431.

Only county households that are located in clusters will be eligible to participate.

Concordia Metals employee and Green Alliance member Jim Smith said that’s necessary to prevent trucks from traveling long distances to pick up one bin.

“It just doesn’t make sense for them to travel all that way, so they want to pick the houses in clusters where they can maximize the pickup,” Smith said. “But even if they’re not in the clusters, there are other options for county residents to recycle.”

Two convenience stations at 511A Kingston Road and 228 Foster Mound Road will begin accepting recyclable materials in November.

Smith said the stations would work similar to a trash dump where residents simply bring their materials and drop them off in the appropriate locations according to the type of material.

Items that can be recycled include:

No. 1 and No. 2 plastics, such as beverage bottles, condiment containers, shampoo bottles, milk jugs and other items. No. 2 food trays cannot be recycled.

Paper and cardboard products, such as newspapers, magazines, phone books, catalogs, office paper, flattened corrugated cardboard, cereal boxes and other items. Paper products must be kept dry.

Metal items such as aluminum cans and steel vegetable and soup cans. All containers must be rinsed and free of food.