Columbia's trash roll carts are here. This is when residents can expect delivery.

Columbia residents soon will no longer place their trash in bags at the curb, but into roll carts that will be picked up by new automated trucks.

The city's solid waste utility will start delivering carts Monday. Residents still will have to place loose bags curbside, however, until March 4, which is when the city's automated collection system starts.

Cart distribution will start with customers who receive collection service on Mondays. Once Monday customer routes have been completed, crews will then proceed to customers who receive collection service on Tuesdays, and so forth, the solid waste utility said in a news release.

Distribution across the entire city will take upward of four weeks.

Customers can view delivery schedule updates by downloading the CoMo Recycle and Trash app or following Columbia Recycle and Trash on Facebook, the solid waste utility said. More information is available through the solid waste utility page on the Columbia government website.

Rehrig Pacific, a vendor for the Solid Waste Utility, will help city staff determine optimal curbside location of carts and will leave the carts in the spot where customers should leave them on collection day.

From 2023: Rollout of roll carts for city trash collection coming next March after council vote

Carts are assigned to a specific address. The refuse carts will have barcodes so that a missing or stolen cart can be brought back to its assigned location. Carts cannot be decorated or altered in any way by residents, the solid waste utility said.

Collection days will not change, but routes and times potentially could. The Solid Waste Utility recommends customers place their refuse carts at the curb no later than 6:30 a.m. on their collection day from March 4 onward. Roll carts placed at the curb before this date will not be emptied.

The city asks for patience from residents as city staff acclimate to the new collection system. An instruction booklet on the new trash pick-up method is available online.

More: Curbside recycling could return to Columbia soon. Council discusses future upgrades

Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Columbia to deliver trash roll carts to residents