A long-delayed curbside residential recycling program will likely be launched in Mililani and Hawai'i Kai by late October, but a controversial new fee for a garbage collection option wouldn't be enforced until January.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann will unveil details of the recycling plan this afternoon, along with a new city sustainability plan.

The recycling program, which could later be expanded island-wide, comes more than three years after a similar project in Mililani was halted by a dispute with the union that represents city garbage workers.

Then-Mayor Jeremy Harris had pushed to expand a privatized recycling project islandwide before leaving office in early 2005.

But the United Public Workers union successfully argued that the move would violate an agreement that allowed the city to shift from manual garbage collection to automated collection. Hannemann's plan calls for UPW members to collect recyclables.

City officials yesterday said new recycling bins will be delivered to homes that need them later this month, along with instructional brochures.

Those neighborhoods could eventually have regular garbage collection reduced from twice per week to once. Continued twice-weekly collection would remain an option for homes that pay a quarterly fee for special stickers to be attached to their garbage cans, officials told a City Council panel.

But environmental services assistant Martin Okabe said it is not yet clear whether the fee would apply to both neighborhoods.

The council has not yet approved legislation that would allow such a fee, and it was not immediately clear yesterday whether the quarterly charge for the stickers would be based on a $10 per month fee that officials had described earlier.

Twice-weekly garbage collection would continue in affected neighborhoods until early January to provide a transition period, Okabe said.

The city had also been considering launching a recycling program in Kailua. Council chairwoman Barbara Marshall, who represents the area, opposed the plan because of the garbage fee and other concerns.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com.