The city of Brookhaven, in partnership with Natchez and Wilkinson County, has received more than $300,000 in grant money to fund a regional recycling drive.

The three-county consortium received a little more than $317,000 through the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality’s Regional Recycling Cooperative Grants Program.

Now, the city of Brookhaven will implement plans to place 57 recycling receptacles throughout town in highly trafficked and visible areas such as parks, schools, municipal buildings and ballparks.

The city also plans to purchase 1,000 35-gallon wheeled containers that operate on a per-interest basis.

A large portion of the grant money will be spent on education.

City officials and recycling experts will visit schools and businesses and distribute educational information throughout the media.

Brookhaven plans to contribute up to $10,000 for the next few years to go along with the grant money. The Public Works Department will contribute 520 hours of “in-kind” work as well.

Brookhaven aldermen have been working with Natchez Community Development Director James Johnston since August to procure the grant.

“We are really excited about the grant and what we can do to make Brookhaven greener,” Ward Four Alderman Shirley Estes said.