WATERVILLE — Residents will be recycling as early as July 14, as that will be the first day Sullivan’s Disposal of Thorndike will pick up recyclables at the curb as part of the new pay-as-you-throw trash collection system.

That was the word Tuesday night from City Manager Michael Roy, who said residents will start putting trash at the curb — minus recyclables — Sept. 8.

Roy told city councilors that the city has contracts with Sullivan’s and two other companies that are involved in pay-as-you-throw — Ecomaine, of Portland, where recyclables will be taken and sorted, and WasteZero, of North Carolina, which will supply area stores with trash bags residents will purchase, coordinate all paperwork, track bag sales and issue the city the money it is due from bag sales.

Roy said City Clerk Patti Dubois has done a lot of leg work to prepare the city for pay-as-you-throw.

Seven thousand fliers will soon be mailed to residents that explain basic information about recycling, Dubois told councilors. The fliers will explain what single-stream recycling is and notify residents that recyclables should be placed in a plastic see-through bag or other container marked “recyclables” and placed at the curb every two weeks.

The initial mailing is for people who may not read the newspaper or watch television, according to Dubois.

“It’s a way to get (the word) out to everyone,” she said.

Another mailing will be sent out in August that will include a sample trash bag and explain the dos and don’ts of recycling, she said.

Informational sessions also are scheduled so that people can learn about the new system.

“We’re trying to avoid people to start calling,” Dubois said. “We don’t want to put the cart before the horse.”

On Friday an informational session will be held 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on The Concourse. On June 27, another informational session will be held at Elm Plaza off Main Street, and further sessions are planned for subsequent Fridays, tentatively at Shaw’s Plaza on Kennedy Memorial Drive and Hathaway Creative Center on Water Street, Dubois said.

“The Shaw’s location is not confirmed yet,” she said. “I’m going to be speaking to them tomorrow.”

She said she did not think Shaw’s would object to having an informational kiosk set up there.

“We’re hoping that those (sessions) will have good attendance,” she said.

Councilor Edward Lachowicz, D-Ward 2, asked if it were possible to extend the informational sessions to 7 p.m. so that people can stop by on their way home from work.

“We can certainly ask if they’d want to extend to seven o’clock,” Dubois said.

Roy said the objective of the sessions is to get as many people as possible learning about how the program works.

Councilors on Tuesday took final votes to authorize a special municipal election June 9, 2015, to give voters an opportunity to repeal the pay-as-you-throw system if they are not happy with it.

In other matters Tuesday, councilors voted 5-0 to approve a lease with the state Department of Transportation to continue exhibiting the Old 470 steam engine on state-owned property off College Avenue for $1 a year. The council also voted to approve awarding a $347,602 contract with B&B Paving Inc. of Hermon for the 2014 pavement maintenance program.

Nancy Williams, adviser to the Waterville Community Land Trust, gave a presentation about the nonprofit organization, which seeks to provide affordable housing and help stabilize and preserve neighborhoods.

The council voted 5-0 to issue a food license to Doug Reed for Sweet Frog, a self service frozen yogurt shop to open at 14 Waterville Commons Drive, next to Sally Beauty Supply.

Reed said he was born and raised in Maine and has another Sweet Frog shop in Bangor. He said there are 350 such shops across the country as part of the chain.

“We’re excited to bring this to the wonderful community of Waterville,” he said. “We’ll be employing about 15 people here in Waterville. We hope to have a soft opening Thursday and a grand opening Saturday, June 28.”

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17