SWAMPSCOTT — Swampscott residents will begin receiving new recycling carts later this month as the town prepares to transition to automated trash and recycling collection in early August. 

The Solid Waste Advisory Committee met with Town Administrator Nick Connors and DPW Director Gino Cresta on Monday to go over some of the final details and the communication plan for the town’s new waste collection contract with Republic Services. 

Connors said the new 96-gallon recycling carts are expected to begin arriving during the week of July 27, though deliveries will take several days as crews work their way through town, meaning not every household will receive its cart on the same day. 

Automated collection — where bins are lifted with a mechanical arm into a human-driven garbage truck — for both trash and recycling is expected to begin the week of Aug. 3. Until then, trash and recycling collection will continue as normal while the new carts are distributed throughout town.

Republic Services had proposed beginning automated trash collection the week of July 27, with automated recycling following a week later after new carts had been delivered to households. Ultimately, the committee agreed that starting both services together would be less confusing for residents.

“I think it could be smoother if it all happened the same week,” committee member Alix Smullin said. “Cleaner messaging.” 

The committee discussed the town’s outreach campaign, which Connors said is intended to make the timeline of the transition as clear as possible. 

“We’re going to push folks to go to the website first,” he said, adding that the town is working towards setting up a dedicated phone line for trash-related calls. “We’ll have hopefully quick answers for the most frequently asked questions.” 

Residents will be receiving a postcard with consolidated information on the transition, which will direct them to the town’s trash and recycling website, where they can find detailed instructions, request different cart sizes, and find answers to frequently asked questions. 

The town also plans to distribute information through social media, electronic message boards, robocalls that may feature the voice of Select Board member Wayne Spritz, and printed instructions attached to each new recycling cart. Town Hall employees will also receive reference sheets so they can answer residents’ questions quickly and consistently. 

Each household will receive a new 96-gallon recycling cart, but residents who prefer a smaller 65-gallon cart can request one through the town’s website. Additional recycling and trash carts are also available, and residents who are interested in receiving an additional barrel can submit those requests now. The Select Board is expected to finalize the cost of an additional trash cart at an upcoming meeting, after recently discussing a fee between $150 and $200. 

The new carts will also support another change coming later this year. Last week, the Select Board voted 3-1 to transition to every-other-week recycling collection beginning Jan. 1, a move officials estimate will save the town roughly $168,000 annually. 

Committee Chair Emily Westhoven said roughly 100 residents have submitted requests for an additional trash or recycling cart, while about 70 have submitted requests for smaller recycling carts. Connors said the town had already ordered a surplus of both different sizes and additional carts to accommodate requests, and said the exact number of interested residents would be easier to nail down once the fees were finalized. 

“Some of them have reached out once they heard there was a discussion about an extra fee,” he said. “Some of them say, ‘I don’t know if I want to pay it. Let me know what it is,’ — this is not a final number by any means.” 

Officials are also reminding residents that automated collection requires carts to be positioned correctly at the curb. Committee members discussed including diagrams and instructions on every cart showing which direction the wheels should face and reminding residents to leave enough space — roughly 3 feet — between barrels for the truck’s mechanical arm. 

Residents will still be able to purchase blue bags for excess trash, which should be placed on top of the trash cart whenever possible. Collection crews will step out of the truck to retrieve additional blue bags left at the curb, though committee members noted that households regularly using more than one blue bag may want to instead consider purchasing a second trash cart.

After the transition is complete, Republic Services is expected to collect old recycling carts during a pickup period likely to begin in mid-August. Residents who wish to keep their old barrels may continue using them for yard waste, while those who miss the pickup period will be able to drop them off at the DPW in August and early September. Additional details will be announced closer to the rollout.