Throw out most of what you know about garbage in Renton.

How residents and businesses dispose of their waste and recycle their reusables is going to change on Jan. 1.

The size of carts will change, if necessary, and residents can now recycle their food waste with their yard waste. The list of what residents can recycle has grown.

Collection days will expand from two days – Monday and Tuesday – to four days – Monday through Thursday.

To get to this point has taken months and months of negotiations with Waste Management, the city’s waste hauler, and then sometimes contentious meetings with the public and some City Council members.

The work is still not done for the big switch.

Crews have been working for weeks to assemble the 36,000 or so new carts that will be delivered to customers. Customers will receive instructions with the carts explaining the new program and the dates of their collection.

The goal is to get the carts delivered by month’s end. However, the big snow stalled delivery of carts, according to Katie Salinas, a spokeswoman for Waste Management.

The company was to bring in extra crews to speed up deliveries, she said.

“We’re still expecting to get everything delivered in time,” she said.

Special teams of workers were brought in from around the nation to deliver the carts because of the complexity of making sure the carts are delivered to the right address.

The task is “mind boggling,” said Linda Knight, the city’s solid-waste coordinator.

It’s possible some carts will be missed or there may be other service issues, she said. Customer should call Waste Management at 1-800-592-9995, or her at 425-430-7397 if they haven’t received the expected carts by Monday or so.

The city held a number of public meetings throughout the city to explain the changes and the new opportunities to recycle.

“We are redefining garbage,” said Knight.

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