Stonington - Recycling is now a lot easier for residents.

They no longer have to put plastic, glass and cans in one bin and paper in the another and they now can recycle more kinds of plastic.

That's because the town began sending recyclables to a facility in Willimantic known as a single-stream recycler because the mix of plastic, glass, cans and paper are dumped on the floor of the facility where equipment then sorts it. Residents can now place all the items in one bin.

Before Nov. 1, the town had been sending its bottles, cans and plastic to a facility in Groton, which did not accept paper. The paper had to be sent to a facility in Willimantic. That meant people had to separate the two groups of items into separate bins.

The town is member of the Southeastern Resource Recovery Agency, which had been leasing the land and buildings at the Groton facility.

That contract is set to expire next year, so the 11 towns in the agency decided to instead sign a contract with Willimantic Waste Paper Inc. and send all their recyclable items there.

"Single-stream is definitely the way to go," said John Phetteplace, the town's solid-waste manager.

Another benefit for residents is that number 3 to 7 plastics, pots, pans, coat hangers and small metal items can now be recycled.

Phetteplace said this is not only is an environmental benefit but helps residents reduce the amount of trash they place in the yellow trash bags that they must buy from the town to dispose of garbage, which will save them money.

Phetteplace asked residents not to use any containers larger than 32 gallons for the recyclables because large ones are difficult to dump onto the trucks. He said the change is not expected to have any major impact on the town's solid-waste budget.

More information is available on the town Web site at www.stonington-ct.gov.