Starting in February, Mattapoisett and Rochester residents will have trash and recyclables hauled away with some robotic help.

A new contract with the New Bedford-based ABC Disposal Services Inc. will bring a fleet of trucks with automated mechanical arms to pick up trash and recyclables.

The new collection system brings another change designed to increase recycling.

Each residence and business will receive two new wheeled carts to collect trash and recycling. Each of the new recycling carts holds 95 gallons, equaling about five of the blue recycling bins currently used.

“It should increase our recycling by a large percentage,” said Mattapoisett Board of Health Agent Dale Barrows of the new carts.

Beginning the first week of February, ABC Disposal will only collect garbage and recycling that has been placed in the designated bins, using the new trucks to pick up the carts.

All recyclables, including bottles, cans, paper and cardboard will go into the cart with the orange lid while trash will go in the cart with the blue lid. Anything left outside of the carts will not be collected.

In the past year, ABC Disposal switched over to the carts in a number of South Coast towns, including New Bedford where recycling has increased from eight percent to 20 percent.

In 2014, recycling accounted for 22 percent of the total garbage collected in Mattapoisett.

“We are hoping to increase to thirty plus percent, which we feel can be achieved,” said ABC Disposal Operations Director Jerry Dugan.

He did not have numbers for Rochester as the town was previously responsible for its own recycling.

At June’s Annual Town Meeting, Rochester voters approved the new recycling contract with ABC Disposal to correct an oversight. Per state law, the town’s elected Highway Surveyor is not allowed to use crews to remove trash or recycling. If residents wanted to keep the service town operated, it must be overseen by an appointed official in a Department of Public Works.

Rochester Town Administrator Michael McCue said the town would pay ABC Disposal a flat fee of $223,861 with adjustments per year under the new contract. Because the town is home to the waste-to-energy facility SEMASS, the town does not pay dumping fees.

In 2013, ABC Disposal broke ground on a new recycling facility on Cranberry Highway in Rochester to handle the influx of recycling.

Dugan said for now Mattapoisett and Rochester recyclables will be processed at ABC’s New Bedford facility.

Higher recycling rates translate to a decrease in trash, and that saves the towns money. By this time next year, many SEMASS contracts will have come up for renewal.

“The trash disposal rate is going to sky rocket, double or triple in some cases,” Barrows said.

The less trash sent to SEMASS, the less taxpayer money gets spent, he said.

That fact accounts for the trash carts, which are 30 gallons smaller than the recycling carts.

Dugan said both bins should be large enough for most households.

Anyone requesting additional carts will be evaluated on a case by case basis, Dugan said. Requests will be run through the governing agency in each town.

“We do encourage that [residents] recycle one hundred percent of what they can before we give out more trash carts,” Dugan said.

Residents who are unable to physically maneuver the wheeled carts can request smaller ones, though Dugan said there haven't been complaints from other communities on that account.

“We’re working hand in hand with communities,” he said. “It’s not a down your throat type of approach.”

McCue said he received a couple of complaints about the new program.

“At this point some residents have expressed concerns about the change, but these calls have been few and far between,” McCue said.

Snow birds also needn’t worry. ABC will keep an eye out for carts that are not picked up, especially in summer communities.

“Any cart that has been sitting there a day or so, we will move it up to the residences,” Dugan said.

Residents are also encouraged to roll the carts to their neighbors’ back or side yard if they are out of town.

In addition to new carts, ABC has purchased four new trucks that use cleaner and more efficient compressed natural gas rather than diesel. The trucks will service Mattapoisett, Rochester and Fairhaven.

“These trucks are state-of-the-art equipment,” Dugan said. “They’re a little safer and there’s less manual labor involved.”

Rochester residents should have received their new carts in the past two weeks. Delivery to Mattapoisett households and businesses began during the weekend.

A flyer from ABC Disposal including the recycling schedule will accompany the carts and be mailed to each residence this month.