The City of Ottawa is looking at combining the blue box and black box into one bin in which residents can discard their recyclables.

City councillors discussed trying it out in Ottawa, during an environment committee meeting Tuesday. The committee tabled phase two of Ottawa’s 30-Year Waste Plan discussion paper.

Before anything goes forward, the city wants the public to weigh in on the idea of “single stream recycling.”

The cost of collecting combined recycling would be cheaper, but processing it at a sorting plant would be more expensive, said Marilyn Journeaux, the city’s manager of sold-waste services.

“So the question, then, becomes, ‘is it worth the convenience of co-mingling those items?’” said Maria McRae, committee chair. “Are we willing to see those fees go up for that kind of recycling?”

The paper suggests a pilot project to test single stream recycling and to improve recycling in apartment buildings.

Residents can provide feedback on a soon-to-be-posted online questionnaire and consultation events will also be held in September before final recommendations are tabled in October.