AUGUSTA — City councilors are expected to take a final vote Thursday to create a single-sort recycling program for residents that would last at least six months.

A proposed agreement between Portland-based nonprofit waste and recyclables processor Ecomaine and the city calls for installing covered roll-off recycling containers at the Hatch Hill landfill, Augusta City Center and the Public Works Department site on North Street.

Unlike the city’s existing system, which requires recyclable materials to be sorted, residents and other users wouldn’t have to separate the various materials from each other because Ecomaine has an automated process that sorts the materials after they are collected. Residents still would need to separate their recyclables from their household rubbish, which still would go to Hatch Hill. Once sorted, the materials would be baled and sold to be reused to make new items.

Councilors discussed the proposal last week and could take a final vote at their Thursday meeting to authorize City Manager William Bridgeo to sign the deal and commit the city to offering the program for six months, starting this spring. Councilors meet Thursday at 7 p.m. in council chambers at Augusta City Center.

Ecomaine wouldn’t charge the city to process the materials. The cost to the city — which officials estimate will be about $17,000 for the six-month trial period — would be for transporting the containers to Ecomaine, according to Public Works Director Lesley Jones.

“We’ve been working to get some recycling improvements for several years, and city staff, working with Ecomaine, have come up with something for six months that could be the start of something more,” Jones said.

About $10,000 of that $17,000 would cover the cost of transporting the recycling container from Hatch Hill to Ecomaine. The Hatch Hill container would be used by all users of the landfill facility, which takes waste and recyclables from several area communities, so the cost of hauling it wouldn’t come directly from the city budget. Instead, it would come from the Hatch Hill budget, which is funded by all users of Hatch Hill.

Jones said the costs associated with the Hatch Hill container are expected to be higher because it will get more use than those at Augusta City Center and the Public Works Department. The estimated $7,000 cost to transport the other two containers would come from the city’s rubbish budget, Jones said.

The city now accepts recyclables including newspapers, magazines, steel cans, corrugated cardboard, clear glass containers and No. 2 clear plastic such as milk jugs. It doesn’t take non-corrugated cardboard such as cereal boxes or white milk jugs or other types of plastic.

The city accepts recyclables at Hatch Hill, and city crews also pick up some recyclables curbside, though Jones said residents’ use of that program has been limited.

Ecomaine accepts a wider variety of recyclables, including plastics No. 1 through No. 7, most types of paper, clear or colored glass, cans, aluminum, cereal boxes, plastic grocery bags and wrapping paper.

Bridgeo said the city would continue its existing curbside recyclables collection during the six-month trial period.

Lissa Bittermann, Ecomaine’s business development manager, said Ecomaine would work with the city during the trial period to help educate residents on how to use the system and the benefits of recycling.

Councilors are also scheduled on Thursday to:

• consider removing a requirement that the city maintain a balance of at least $26,000 in the Edwards Dam scholarship fund;

• hear a presentation from Wayne Mitchell, executive director of the Augusta Board of Trade;

• hold a public hearing and consider granting a malt liquor license for Elevation Burger;

• consider allowing the transfer of $1,320 to the police department, seized as part of a criminal case;

• consider accepting $9,000 in grant funding from the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety for impaired driving enforcement; and

• consider authorizing Bridgeo to enter into an agreement with the state Department of Transportation to extend the Kennebec River Rail Trail north from the current trailhead under Memorial Bridge to the city’s waterfront park on the west side of the Kennebec River.

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @kedwardskj