Freeborn County residents with curbside recycling pickup likely will see changes to the program starting this fall.

As part of a new seven-year contract made with county commissioners this week, Waste Management plans to expand the materials it can recycle and also update the manner in which recyclables are collected, said Freeborn County Administrator John Kluever.

Currently, people who recycle must provide their own bins and then separate their recyclable items by material based on a series of rules.

Under the new contract, Waste Management will deliver 64-gallon recycling bins to households eligible for curbside recycling pickup and residents will be able to put their recyclable items into the bin. However, the items will no longer need to be separated, Kluever said, and families who need two bins will be able to request them.

He said Steele County moved toward this model and has seen an increase in the amount of recycling.

“When you don’t have to worry about a thing, people tend to recycle more,” Kluever said.

The company will also be able to collect the recycled goods with less physical labor as the trucks will be able to pick up the bins and dump them all at once instead of having crews manually dump out each type of material into separate compartments.

Kluever said the new contract begins Dec. 1, but Waste Management will likely be rolling out the new recycle bins in preparation as early as September.

He said churches will be able to get a bin free of charge.

There will be no increase to taxpayers for the changes, Kluever added.

Look to future editions of the Tribune for more details about the changes.