LaGRANGE — Sign up for free, curbside recycling is underway for LaGrange residents.

Under the new city program, which is set to begin in mid-January, sanitation workers will deliver new recycling cans to residents at no charge. All recyclables but glass — including metal, plastic, paper and cardboard — can be thrown in the recycle cans and the city will pick them up for free.

The program is “single-stream recycling,” meaning there is no need to sort the items by material; all recycling can be thrown into one bin.

Residents can reserve their recycle cans now — but it comes with a catch. At a cost of about $50 each, the city wants to make sure the folks who ask for the cans actually follow through and use them.

“If you order a can, you have to use it,” said Tom Hall, city manager. “Or else, we’re going to charge you for the cost of the can.”

No exact date in January has been set for the program’s beginning, but Hall said as the cans are delivered, instructions will go out for people to learn about when they’ll need to roll their new blue recycling bin to the curb.

Most likely, Hall said, recycling pick up will be the same day as trash pick up, but city officials are waiting to see just how many people sign up before they make any firm schedules.

The blue recycle cans are the same size and shape as the familiar gray garbage bins already in use around LaGrange, and will have instructions stamped on the lid about what can and can’t be recycled, Hall said. The city has already received about 600 of the cans, which are waiting for delivery at the city’s public works compound on Hill Street.

To sign up for a recyclables bin, call the city of LaGrange at 706-883-2023 or visit www.lagrange-ga.org.