LEWISTON — Multiple bins and sorting should be a thing of the past beginning next week as the city kicks off its new recycling program.

Staff briefed city councilors Tuesday on how the new program will be rolled out, how it’s being promoted and why it matters.

“Overall, it’s going to save the city in several ways,” City Administrator Ed Barrett said. “It let us replace solid waste staff; we don’t have the capital expenses of buying new trucks and equipment and we hopefully will get materials recycled (and) out of the waste stream.”

The new program begins July 1. Residents don’t have to do anything different and trash collection schedules won’t change.

People can continue to use their city-provided recycling bins or they can use larger trash cans if they want. The city and Casella Solid Waste have provided  green and white stickers that people can put on the containers to differentiate them from normal household waste. The stickers, and information on the program, are available at City Hall, the Lewiston Public Library, the city landfill offices and Recreation Department offices.

Everything that can be recycled goes in that bin, with no sorting needed.

“At our house, we have one bin for newspapers and magazines, another for office paper and cardboard,” Barrett said. “Then, we keep a third one under the sink for cans and plastic. So this is going to be a lot easier.”

The program also expands the amount of material that can be recycled. All of the different types of soft plastics will be accepted. That includes milk bottles and detergent containers, but also 5-gallon buckets, plastic toys and children’s rigid plastic swimming pools.

Any kind of cardboard and paper that can be torn can be recycled, as well. All kinds of metal cans, including empty aerosol cans, can be recycled, as can all glass jars and bottles.

The non-recyclable list includes Pyrex glass, ceramics, mirrors, window glass, brittle plastic — like CD containers — oil, foam and medical waste. Those items should be left in the regular household waste containers

Recyclables will be collected by Almighty Waste and taken the city landfill. They will be dumped on a floor and loaded into a 100-ton container. Casella Solid Waste will empty those containers as they fill up and take them to a Massachusetts plant for processing.

Barrett said the city will no longer get reliable income from recycling sales but won’t pay recycling costs, either. According to the agreement with Casella, if the sale price Casella gets for the recycled material exceeds $75 per ton, Casella and the city will split the difference equally.

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