Manteca will start switching out older blue carts starting the week of Sept. 16 as the city moves closer to weekly recycling collection.

The new system designed to reduce contamination of recyclables and increase efficiency by going to the same style and same size can is expected to be operational by mid-2025.

And as such, it will allow the city to meet a looming state mandate to divert waste from being buried at landfills.

The city is leasing five additional collection trucks that are in the process of being built. They have a targeted delivery to the city in the time frame of October-November.

At the same time, the city is struggling to keep existing solid waste positions filled while also trying to fill five new positions.

Public Works Director Carl Brown said the city is working on trying to make compensation for solid waste workers more competitive with similar employment.

The switch to the blue carts is scheduled to take place through April.

The process is dependent on the city being able to receive cart orders it has made in a timely manner.

That said, Brown indicated the city will do what it can to get 96-gallon blue carts for all of its 25,000 plus residential customers delivered sooner.

Not only are 32 and 65 gallon carts being replaced with 96 gallon versions, but older 96-gallon cart models are as well.

The long change out of recycling carts also reflects the fact they will be switched on regular collection days.

The city will distribute door hangers the week prior advising specific areas that will have blue carts switched out and that they need to be placed curbside even if they are far from being full.

Those that already have the newer style 96-gallon blue carts, will also be asked to place them curbside on the change out day so crews can double check to make sure the right cart numbers correspond to the address.

Once everything — carts, trucks, and additional workers — are in place, Manteca will collect green, blue and brown carts on a weekly basis. Currently, only the brown (garbage) cart is collected weekly while the others are done so every other week.

Given food waste needs to be diverted from landfills to composting, the green organic waste cart will need to be picked up weekly to avoid smells and other issues from being a problem.

At the same time, by having weekly recycling cart collections it doubles the recycling capacity for households that already have 96 gallon blue carts.

For those with 64 gallon carts, between the larger cart and weekly collections it will triple the recycling ability of a household.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com