COEUR d'ALENE - Give them bigger bins, and they will use them.

The first day of single stream recycling in sections of Coeur d'Alene on Monday proved that.

"We had a huge participation rate, a fantastic response," said Steve Roberge, district manager of Waste Management of Idaho.

The company retrieved recyclables in the first half of the city where larger 64-gallon recycling bins have already been delivered to residences. The last of the 14,000 bins will be delivered to homes by the end of the week. That part of town will have its recycling bins picked up Oct. 25.

Roberge said they're already seeing double the recycling participation rate.

"Neighborhoods that didn't do it before are doing it now," he said.

It's not just the size of the bins that is likely making recycling a more attractive option for residents, it's the kinds of things the trucks will pick up.

Residents can now just toss paper, tin and plastic all together and let the pick-up trucks take it from there.

Office paper, phone books, cereal boxes, junk mail, dairy tubes, laundry detergent bottles, plastic bottles, plastic cups, plates and trays; all those can be recycled now.

Basically, throw everything in the bins except plastic bags, like the ones from the grocery stores, and glass.

They'll be picked up every other week. Garbage pick up will remain on a weekly basis.

Residents don't have to accept the 64 gallon bins, but without them, their recyclables won't be collected.

Roberge said they have had very few negative responses to the bins.

"Some people think the cart's too big," he said.

That's because trucks will pick up the bins automatically, without the driver needing to get out of the truck, something they can't do with the smaller bins.

Troy Tymesen, the city's finance director, said his office hasn't heard many complaints either.

"We're having good compliance. We did a random sampling, and just one customer's bin that we surveyed had glass in it," Tymesen said.

The expanded recycling service isn't increasing residents' garbage fees, Tymesen said. Waste Management was compensated for its increased efforts with a contract extension.

If folks are recycling more, they're not making as much garbage, so they could end up paying a lower level service fee and save a few dollars.

"Our hope is with the increased recyclables, people will be able to downsize their service. We have three levels of service," Tymesen said.

If you don't want to keep the smaller blue bin for other uses, put it upside down at the curb next to your recycling cart, and it will be collected.

Info: Waste Management, 765-4968