JAY — The town’s transfer station crew will hold an open house in April to highlight the changes in operation there.

The new truck the town ordered last year, capable of compacting trash and recycles in separate compartments, is expected to be on display, Public Works Director John Johnson said Monday.

The town changed to single-sort recycling in February. A truck, ordered to streamline the curbside pickup system, was supposed to be delivered by Feb. 14 but had not arrived as of Monday.

He’s been promised it will be in town for the open house, Johnson said.

Recyclables can be put in the same container without being individually separated. For purposes of curbside pickup, recyclables need to be put loose in a plastic barrel or container and not in a closed bag, Johnson said.

When dropping off recycles at the transfer station, plastic trash bags holding recyclables should be emptied with items deposited into the designated spots.

The open house will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, April 9, at the station on Route 4.

A representative from ecomaine will be on hand to help with the recycling process from 8 a.m. to noon, longer if necessary, he said.

“They are very adept at talking about single-sort recycling in what’s in and what’s out,” Johnson said.

The town has a contract with the nonprofit organization for five years, and it is renewable.

Currently the cost to get rid of recyclables is nothing, Johnson said.

Trash is still hauled to Waste Management Inc. in Norridgewock to be put in a landfill or  hauled to Auburn to be incinerated at $60 per ton, he said.

A new compactor for recyclables has been installed and the use of the 20-year-old baler has been discontinued. A roof and two walls will soon be built over the compactor.

Members of the crew that goes house-to-house to pick up trash and recyclables said they are seeing an increase in recycled items but there are no official numbers yet to back that up, Johnson said.

Free rolls of 25 clear trash bags — one per household — will be given out at the open house, he said.

There will also be decals for people to stick on recycling containers.

“This will assist the crew when they pick up containers, station Supervisor Todd Hiscock said. They‘ll automatically know which side of the truck it goes in, he said.

Stickers for the transfer station will also be given out with the crew putting them on residents’ vehicles. Someone from the town crew needs to be present when the stickers are put on a vehicle to verify that that person is from Jay.

The town now accepts couches and chairs at no cost to the resident. Passenger tires up to 20 inches in size have also been dropped from $9 each to $2 each to dispose of them.

“It is all an effort to keep the trash off the roads, and we just cover our costs,” Johnson said. “All these changes have been done without any loss of jobs.”

The station is now open six days a week instead of four. It is open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. As of Monday, the cost of trash bags available at the station rose from $7 for 50 to $7.50, Johnson said, just enough to cover the cost.

Hiscock is in charge of the crew and day-to-day operations. Johnson and Hiscock consult on several items including big purchases and budgets.

“When (late supervisor) Bob Sanders died suddenly in December 2009, nobody else knew how things were done,” Johnson said. “Now two people know.”

Upcoming events scheduled unused or unneeded medication collection, in conjunction with Jay police and Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 30, at Hannaford. A household hazardous waste collection is also scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, June 4, at the station.

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