Applewhite Receives Permit to Recycle Metal

The Gautier, Miss., City Council has approved a permit that officially allows Applewhite Industries, a Gautier, Miss., company to recycle metal and other products from area industries.

Roger Applewhite applied for the permit for the Department of Environmental Quality to process incidental hazardous waste materials at a site for the purpose of recovering recyclable products from Ingalls Operations of Northrop Grumman.

City Manager Don Pickard and Ralph Hode, community services director, said the permit is needed for Applewhite Industries to comply with DEQ requirements that sorting of materials from Northrop Grumman rubbish containers be done at a place other than on the site grounds.

Materials in the trash containers would be sorted on a concrete slab and anything not permitted at the local rubbish landfill would be shipped to another site, and all material allowed would be disposed of at Applewhite Industries.

Pickard said Applewhite had been sorting the metal for years, but more stringent adherence to DEQ requirements made the permit necessary.

City officials also approved the purchase of a dump truck for $52,000. Pickard said that Watson Quality Ford was not the lowest bidder, but that the needs of the city justified $2,000 more in cost because the truck has features that would allow it to be used as a street sweeper.

In a public hearing, council members approved city cleanup of derelict property on Heritage Drive, which is owned by Wells Fargo Financial. (Mississippi) Sun Herald