Austin started single-stream recycling in Oct. 2008. Now a little over a year later, the city is looking at options that would lower the cost of the program.

Right now, the city sends all of its recycling to a facility in San Antonio. There, Greenstar processes up to 50 tons of recycling every hour.

Austin currently has a two-year contract with Greenstar that will end in 2010, but the city is considering extending it a little longer. Thursday, Austin City Council will consider three options to extend the contract. The city wants to bring down the price by spreading the operating costs over a longer term.

"You've got a longer term to pay for the equipment. Just as if you were to go buy a car, if you finance it for two years instead of 10 years, the payment's going to be quite a bit higher," John Rabon, the Southwest Region manager for Greenstar, said.

The options could keep Austin's recycling in the San Antonio facility as long as 2013 and save as much as $20 per ton.

City staff is recommending the shortest option, which would keep all of Austin's recycling in San Antonio until March 2011 and at least half of it there through Sept. 2011, saving the city about $400,000.

The city hopes to have a single-stream recycling facility up and running as early as next year.

"It gives us the most flexibility in what we need as we move forward with building our own material recovery facility. As we move forward with that own facility that will put the infrastructure in place for us to divert even more waste," Jennifer Herber, spokeswoman for Austin Solid Waste Services, said.

Austin's recycling has more than doubled since single-stream began, and the amount is growing more every month.