Manteca city crews will not be switching out 96-gallon carts — unless they are damaged.

The switching to universal 96-gallon carts for garbage, organics/yard waste, and recyclables that starts today targets replacing 32-gallon and 64-gallon green and blue carts with 96-gallon versions.

Peni Basalusalu, the deputy director of public works in charge of the solid waste division, stressed Wednesday that “existing large carts are not getting swapped out unless they are broken.”

With more than 28,000 household customers with three carts apiece, giving everyone new carts regardless of the size would push the $4 million mark.

The smaller and medium carts that the city takes back plus any broken 96-gallon carts will be recycled.

Residents with the small and medium carts need to place them at curbside until 5 p.m. on their scheduled collection day.

They should continue to do so on collection days until such time a city crew switches out their carts with a 96-gallon vision.

The process could take as much as four months to complete citywide.

The city is using existing manpower for the transition to avoid additional costs.

Sometime by mid-2024, the city will switch from recyclables and green organic/yard waste carts being tipped once every two weeks to a weekly basis along with garbage carts.

There are two reasons for that.

For starters, it should eliminate contamination issues with the blue carts given the weekly collections means even those who already have 96-gallon carts will effectively be able to double the volume of recyclables they can recycle.

That’s because the weekly pickup effectively gives those with an existing 96 gallon cart double the recycling capacity.

The weekly organic/yard waste collection will avoid smell issues with food leftovers that are now supposed to  go into the green cart.

The more robust collection schedule and larger carts are designed to eliminate contamination that will allow the city to significantly reduce what is being landfilled as mandated by state law.

Having one universal cart sizes — save exceptions those that have issues with gate widths verified by the city — also will reduce collection issues.

The remote arms on collection trucks are designed for the 96-gallon carts.

That means there are times if the smaller and medium carts are not picked up “just right” they can be damaged or — in some instances — end up in the back of the truck.

It ends up slowing down the collection process and requires replacement of carts that have been damaged to the point they can no longer be used.

The new carts also include bar codes that, along with onboard truck cameras, will be able to pinpoint who is contaminating recyclables.

That will lead to warnings. Then, if there is a repeat offense, households will be fined.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com