The city of Cullman is preparing to get back into the recycling business.

The City Council is expected to consider bids for a new recycling truck at its meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall.

The city’s recycling service hit the skids earlier this year when its lone collection truck experienced a major breakdown.

It is expected to cost the city around $105,000 to replace the truck, but Mayor Don Green said he believes it will be money well spent.

“I’m glad to see that we will soon be back in the recycling business. A number of folks were disappointed when the program had to be stopped this summer because we lost the use of our truck, but those same people will no doubt be excited now to hear that we’ll be purchasing a new truck that should serve us for a number of years,” Green said.

The purchase will require action by the council and with budget time just around the corner, that’s likely to be one of the items of discussion.

The city of Cullman began its recycling program in 1996 as a community service. The program is not, nor has it ever been, a money-making proposition for the city.

“We have to have a separate truck and driver to pick up the recyclable items. We then have to unload the recyclables into another truck and transport them to the BFI Recycling Center in Huntsville,” said Delwin Kilgo, sanitation department superintendent. “We transport around five tons of recyclables to Huntsville each week and until this latest contract, we were paying them $40 a ton to accept it. We’re currently paying BFI $20 a ton.”

Kilgo said the recycling program is costing the city around $70,000 a year, and that’s not including the cost of a new truck.

“It has been a popular program, but it has strictly been a public service,” Kilgo said.

Also on Monday’s agenda, the council will consider:

• A $2,800 change order for additional site preparation work for the apron expansion at Folsom Field Airport.

• Bids on a number of items ranging from outdoor severe warning systems to computers, from laser printers to vehicles for the Cullman Police Department.