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First Phase Of One-Sort Recycling Begins In Mpls.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- For Minneapolis residents, this is the moment they've been waiting for -- for a long time.

One-sort recycling -- where customers combine their glass, plastic, paper, aluminum and cardboard into one container -- is about to begin in the city.

Every residential customer will start one-sort recycling when they get their new blue cart. About 30,000 blue recycling carts will be rolled out in this first phase, which takes place Nov. 12 to Dec. 1.

"By making it easier to recycle, we expect to collect more recycling and less trash from folks who don't recycle yet or who don't recycle as much as they could," said Mayor R.T. Rybak. "Our crews are picking up and recycling about 18,000 tons of materials every year, and we want to double that by 2015."

The second phase will bring the new blue recycling carts to the rest of the 110,000 Minneapolis residents next spring.

Once customers get their new recycling carts, they can choose to leave their old bins out to be recycled or keep them for other uses.

The city says while recycling will be easier for Minneapolis residents, they still need to recycle properly -- rinsing recyclables and not mixing in garbage or other materials, such as yard waste.

In addition, the city will be using new and retrofitted recycling collection trucks.

There will be no charge in the amount customers pay.

To find out what phase your home will be in, click here.

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