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WORCESTER, Mass. - Changes are coming to the City of Worcester's recycling program this fall. Recycling bins containing unauthorized materials, including recycling placed in plastic bags, will no longer be accepted.

New recycling bins were delivered to Worcester residents, and have photos on them of what is allowed inside and what will no longer be accepted.

DPW commissioner Jay Fink said up to this point, the city's recycling contractor, Casella, has been picking up materials they probably shouldn't have. He said plastic bags are particularly problematic for the large machines at the recycling facility which do the sorting of materials on conveyor belts.

"The real problem with the series of conveyor belts is plastic bags and ropes and anything stringy, because as you can imagine conveyor belts have lots of gears and moving parts," Fink said. "What happens to those plastic bags and ropes is it gets spun around all the different gears. What that means then is the plant has to shut down and actually go through and pull all of that material off."

Fink said pulling out those items slows the whole process down and when processing becomes more efficient, it's a win for the city and residents as the rates will go down. 

The enforcement will go into effect October 1, and contaminated items will be left at the curb. Extra bins will be for sale starting after Labor Day at the DPW headquarters.