KEENE – At the Keene Transfer Station, users no longer have to separate paper, cardboard, plastic or glass. They can dump all of these recyclable products into one bin.

The town of Keene has hired Casella to run its new Zero-Sort Recycling program, which is supposed to make recycling easier. The new program also effects the resident of the town of Jay, which contracts with Keene to use its transfer station.

Keene Supervisor Bill Ferebee said many local residents called or wrote him and the town board last year, saying the transfer station was not recycling enough materials. The town hired Casella, and the new program began operating in January.

“Everything wasn’t being recycled that was capable of being recycled,” Ferebee said of the town’s old program. “It was a very strong reaction. They were just interested in the environment and the future. You know, if we start now, maybe other towns will follow and more items will be recycled instead of just going into a hole somewhere and buried.”

Ferebee said Casella, a company based in Rutland, Vermont, is the only provider of the no-sort recycling service in the region. The town has entered into a one-year contract with the company, which services much of the Northeast, from Pennsylvania to Maine.

The town still encourages people to put cardboard and metal products into separate containers at the transfer station because the town gets more revenue from them that way. Some items that should still go in the trash include food, plastic bags, mirrors, light bulbs, ceramics and styrofoam. Five-cent returnable bottles and cans can be deposited at Keene Central School to fund school activities.

Casella uses paper to make egg cartons, plastic to make fleece jackets and glass to make new bottles.

The transfer station has two new blue Casella recycling containers: one for Zero-Sort products and the other for cardboard.

Warren Dwight, of Keene, said he was pleased with the new Zero-Sort program. Dwight was at the transfer station Wednesday dumping a basket full of recyclables.

“I like it,” he said. “It’s a lot more convenient.”

Another person at the transfer station Wednesday, who did not want to be identified, said she thought Zero-Sort Recycling was “weird” and didn’t like it.

Ferebee said most people have been supportive of the new system, but there have been critics, he admitted, who are mostly concerned about the cost of the program.

The town has budgeted $20,000 in 2015 for the Zero-Sort program. So far, since January the town’s cost has been $717 and the town’s revenue from cardboard was about $100, Ferebee said.

The summer months are busier at the transfer station than in the winter. Ferebee said the town will monitor the costs of the program to see if they have to make adjustments next year.

“If this gets to be really costly, we may find that we’ll have to adjust whether we have to charge for it,” Ferebee said. “I’m not saying we are going to. I’m just saying we will have to look at our costs.”

Ferebee said garbage costs should diminish if people use the system properly. He hopes people continue to learn the process and recycle more materials.

“It’s running smoother,” Ferebee said. “We put out flyers. Folks who wanted the program helped tell their neighbors how things worked. … It’s all been an education.”