STILLWATER, Okla. — Curbside recycling will start expanding across Stillwater in June. The process should be completed in August, Waste Management Superintendent Chris Knight said.

Residents will receive recycling program information this month. Knight said. Welcome flyers should arrive soon, followed by “select your cart” forms. Residents also can opt into the recycling program online at www.stillwater.org. All Stillwater residents will be charged an additional $1.57 on their utility bills to defray the costs of the curbside recycling program.

Knight discussed the recycling program during a recent visit to the NewsPress studios for a webisode of the newspaper’s public affairs program — “Conversations with ...” The full interview is available on our website — stwnewspress.com or YouTube channel, youtube.com/stwnewspress.

Here are some excerpts from the interview.

What did we learn from the recycling pilot program?

“Two of the key things we were looking at were the participation rate and also our diversion rate. In the pilot program, we ended up with a 45 percent participation rate and over a 15 percent diversion rate, which exceeded what we anticipated initially going into the program. Everyone really loved it. ... No negatives. Everyone was positive.”

What is a single-stream recycling program?

“When we were originally looking at what type of service we wanted to offer here in Stillwater, we looked at the dual-stream or single-stream option. The dual-stream would be either the citizen would separate the recyclables at curbside or the people doing the collection at curbside would separate it. Single-stream is where the citizen is just allowed to put all the recyclables that are collected in one container, no separation needed. We collect it and all of the recyclables are separated at the processor. ... We chose that particular option for convenience.”

What can be recycled in the program?

“We accept all plastics — one through seven. We accept paper, cardboard, tin, aluminum. The only thing we don’t accept is regular metal and glass. Glass we do accept at our Convenience Collection Center at 807 S. Perkins Road. You can take your glass there, but don’t put it into your cart.”

How does recycling save money for the city?

“Everything that we can divert from the landfill is a cheaper cost for the city as a whole. The cost as far as disposing of it in the landfill or taking it to our recycling processor, it’s cheaper to take it to the recycling processor.”

Tell everyone about your recycling blog?

“Every day I try — throughout the process — to keep everyone informed about what’s going on, where we are at in the process and how it is going. ... If anyone has any questions, you can go on there and ask any recycling question you want to know. I’ll answer them as soon as I can and hopefully be able to give you the information you are looking for. Just go to the city website www.stillwater.org. You’ll see it on the initial page. You just click on it and go right in there and post any comments you’d like to make or ask any questions you’d like to have answered.”