Waste Management
No one really likes to talk about trash or ways to deal with human and animal waste. But when you look around, it’s easy to see how managing sewage, trash, litter, and animal byproducts is an important part of keeping Mississippi beautiful. Whether it’s practicing a “leave no trace” policy when you go hiking and camping or finding ways to deal with livestock waste on the farm, MSU experts share research-based information to help Mississippians make practical decisions.
News
When I think of the beach, I picture soft, white sand and pristine, blue water. But our beaches and oceans have a dirty little secret: trash.
That’s right, several tons of trash end up in our waterways and on our beaches every year in Mississippi. In 2017 alone, volunteers with the Mississippi Coastal Cleanup collected 13 tons of trash from 40 sites along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This trash isn’t just unsightly. It threatens the Gulf Coast’s ecosystem.
How much trash does your family generate? How much of that trash is single-use plastic, like water bottles and food packaging?
You might be surprised to know that much of that plastic ends up littering our waterways, beaches and oceans. In fact, the No. 1 item polluting these areas is plastic.
By James E. “Jim” Miller
Professor Emeritus, Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Aquaculture
Mississippi State University
People discard millions of tons of trash daily in recycling containers or garbage cans, but unfortunately, many people leave trash in other places, where it can harm wildlife and pets.
Whether it is carelessly tossed out of car windows or off the sides of boats, left on the ground from routine farming or construction activities, or casually dropped while walking down the street, litter is more than an unsightly nuisance.
MISSISSIPPI STATE – The more than 2,000 chicken growers in Mississippi can now save money on an annual test required to meet federal and state regulations and keep their samples in the state.
The Mississippi State Chemical Laboratory has lowered its fee for testing chicken litter to $35 to be more in line with fees charged by labs in neighboring states. Many of the state’s growers have been sending their samples to Louisiana and Arkansas.
By Charmain Tan Courcelle
MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A study of the practice of land application of poultry litter suggests copper and zinc may accumulate in amended soils using current nutrient management strategies.
Billy Kingery, soil scientist with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, has completed a study to determine the effect of long-term application of poultry litter on the amount and distribution of these metals in soil.
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