Beginning in early October, the city of Bowie will begin distributing large recycling carts to about 8,300 households in the city at no charge to residents.

The distribution of wheeled 65-gallon and 35-gallon blue carts will start in Old Town Bowie and work southward through 30 neighborhoods, said city spokeswoman Una Cooper in an email.

The two-year program to encourage more recycling by the city’s 20,000 households is designed to replace most of the smaller 22-gallon bins without wheels that the city had previously distributed when it adopted single-stream recycling three years ago.

“The aim of the program is to make it easier for residents to recycle more items and make it easier for them get the items to the curb,” said Cooper about the larger, wheeled carts.

The cart program, approved in May by the Bowie City Council, is expected to cost the city about $800,000 over two years as a way to improve the environment and also down refuse disposal costs.

Cooper said the rest of the households in the city will receive their carts during the second distribution phase next fall.

This year’s distribution, which is expected to take about a month, will start in Old Town Bowie and work south to include Belair Greens, Belair Town, Bowie Forest, Bowie Station, Enfield Chase, Fairview, Forest Drive, Glenridge, Grady’s Walk, Heather Hills, High Bridge Park, Huntington, Huntington Crest, Long Ridge, Longleaf, Meadowbrook, Northridge, Northview, Old Chapel Estates, Old Stage, Rockledge, Rolling Hills, Somerset, Somerset Park, Spring Meadows, Stewarts Landing, Sumner Chase, Tulip Grove, Westview and Whitehall.

Employees will distribute 65-gallon carts to about 7,300 single-family houses and 35-gallon carts to about 1,000 townhouses, she said.

Residents are asked to put the carts out with the handle facing the street, so that recycling trucks equipped with a mechanical arm can lift and dump them.

A resident who doesn’t want the larger cart may call the city Department of Public Works to have it picked up, Cooper said.

Materials that can be recycled include glass bottles and jars, aluminum, tin and steel cans, all plastics, with the exception of plastic plates and utensils, and all types of paper and cardboard items including newspapers, magazines, books, junk mail, food boxes, office paper and file folders.

Items that cannot be recycled include Styrofoam, electronics, dishes, food, household hazardous waste, window glass, mirrors and motor oil containers.

For more information, visit www.cityofbowie.org/recycling or call the city Department of Public Works at 301-809-2344.

vterhune@gazette.net