In late August, the Amador Disposal Service will tinker with its curbside recycling program in the unincorporated areas by providing residents with recycling bins instead of their traditional blue bags.

All recyclable materials, such as paper, cardboard, plastic and glass, will be accepted without sorting in the 64-gallon blue carts. Residents of Carbondale, Forest Home, Willow Creek, Drytown, River Pines and Fiddletown will receive the carts in a transitional program that will see pick-ups made every other week. There will be no additional cost for the service.

"In 2004, the Amador County Joint Powers Authority adopted 'Recycling Ricky' as the mascot for all five cities." said solid waste program manager Jim McHargue of the Public Works Department. "While ACES already has a curbside cart program in place for many customers, this is specific to ADS."

Amador currently has two waste haulers - Amador County Environmental Services and Amador Disposal Service - to meet the waste needs of the county. There is no active landfill, with the county continuing to surpass the waste diversion requirements under Assembly Bill 939, which set a 50-percent threshold. All waste is transported out of the county into other landfills.

"The county is working hard to meet the requirements of state law and a better curbside recycling program is one aspect of that," said McHargue.

Residents are encouraged to participate in the curbside program as recycling greatly reduces the amount of space needed for landfills and contributes to the preservation of natural resources, McHargue added. "This new program is an improvement over the blue bag program that is currently in place."

For more information, contact Amador Disposal Service at 274-2454.