The City of Savannah made history Friday, Nov. 14, when it began door-to-door delivery of the new curbside recycling carts to Savannah household customers.

The first 3,000 of the roughly 48,000 recycling carts that will be delivered throughout Savannah have been mobilized next to the Savannah Recycling Center and Education Complex at 14 Interchange Court. A contractor departed the complex with the first batch on Friday. Those with Monday garbage pickup will be the first to receive carts, starting with the Coffee Bluff area Friday.

The 96-gallon, black and yellow recycling carts are citizens' connection to Savannah's state-of-the-art curbside system, called "single-stream recycling." Single-stream recycling, a new technology, is the most user-friendly of all recycling systems. It allows residents to drop a variety of recyclables -- plastic and glass bottles, metal cans, paper and cardboard -- into one recycling container, with no sorting required.

Cart delivery to all 48,000 households in Savannah is expected to take about a month. Curbside recycling collection, which will occur twice a month, will begin the week of Jan. 5, 2009.

As citizens await the start of curbside recycling collection, they are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the process, and create a system within their homes for separation of household trash from recyclable materials. All Savannah households will receive a packet with a handy recycling guide, a pickup schedule, and other useful information.

Residents can learn more by visiting savannahga. gov or calling 311.