The city's curbside recycling pilot program got off to a slow start yesterday, with only about 20 percent participation among Mililani households scheduled for mixed recyclables pickup.

But city officials said they expect recycling rates to grow as the project continues, and that there were few mistakes among those who did participate.

The city kicked off its pilot program with its first collection of mixed recyclables among about 5,000 Mililani homes yesterday. Blue bin pickup will continue in the rest of Mililani today and tomorrow.

Hawai'i Kai, the other community involved in the pilot program, will have green waste pickup tomorrow. Next week, green waste will be collected in Mililani, and Hawai'i Kai will have blue bin pickup.

Ken Shimizu, deputy director of the city's Environmental Services Department, estimated about 20 percent of the roughly 5,000 households with blue bin pickup yesterday set out their bins.

The city collected about 15 tons of mixed recyclable material from those households, said city recycling coordinator Suzanne Jones.

She said the city expects curbside recycling participation will be "much higher in the months to come than they are today," eventually reaching 70 to 80 percent or more.

Jones acknowledged it was a "slow start," but emphasized that yesterday was just the first day of the program. She said some residents may have felt they didn't have enough recyclables to set their blue bin out or forgot that the program began this week. She added that it was "pouring" rain in Mililani yesterday morning.

Mililani Mauka resident Lance Yoshimura was among those who didn't set out a blue bin yesterday.

The father of three said he didn't have enough recyclables in his bin to set it out; he already takes newspapers to Mililani Mauka Elementary School, and his daughter redeems the family's HI-5 beverage containers.

But Yoshimura, 53, said he supports the program and will set out his green and blue bins in the coming weeks.

"More people need to recycle, any way they want to," he said. "People need to get involved whatever way they can. Just recycle; don't just throw it away."

A few homes mistakenly put out green bins yesterday, and city workers put notes on some bins that contained unacceptable material.

But Jones and Shimizu said it appears participants for the most part understand the program and what items can be recycled.

"It was very encouraging," said Shimizu. "We're looking at the loads and (there were) not much mistakes."

Jones said the largest and most positive indicator yesterday was the good quality of the collected material. "We also saw that there were very minimal amounts of any confusion out in the community," she said. "A couple people put out a green bin instead of a blue bin, and there were a couple items in the bins that didn't belong, but other than that, people seem to know how to do this, and I think those are also very good indicators."

Shimizu, who had been hoping for at least 50 percent participation yesterday, also said a good sign is that about a quarter of the homes on a route he monitored did not put out their gray refuse bins, which were also scheduled for pickup.

"If they don't have enough rubbish ... or if they're actually recycling, that's why they don't need the second (trash pickup) day," Shimizu said.

The curbside recycling pilot program will serve about 12,000 households in Mililani and 8,000 homes in Hawai'i Kai.

Through Jan. 5, Mililani and Hawai'i Kai will continue to have two days of trash pickup, plus alternating mixed recycling and green waste pickup once a week on the second collection day.

But beginning the week of Jan. 7, the city will eliminate the second day of trash pickup for the two communities.

Pending City Council approval, Mililani residents would have the option to pay $10 a month for a second day of trash collection each week. Hawai'i Kai residents will not have that option.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.