The Amesbury's Public Works Department will begin offering curbside recycling to downtown businesses Sept. 12 to offset the loss of one trash pickup a week.

Mayor David T. Hildt said businesses and apartment buildings receiving trash pickup three times a week will now be offered two trash collections and one recycling collection.

The properties receiving the new service will be those on the so-called ''Main Street Loop," including addresses on Friend, Elm, and Market streets, which are in the Central Business District, Hildt said.

The current plan is to pick up recyclables on Wednesdays and other solid waste on Mondays and Thursdays, Hildt said. Currently downtown addresses receive trash pickups on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Items that can be recycled in Amesbury include all types of paper and cardboard, glass, aluminum, and number 1 and 2 plastic, city officials said.

The change in service does not affect the current every-other-week residential curbside recycling program or the regular once-a-week residential and commercial trash collection outside the Central Business District's downtown area, Hildt said.

City officials decided to offer recycling services for the downtown businesses after the town's trash hauler, Waste Management, discovered its contract with the city called for only twice-weekly trash pickups in the downtown, said Amesbury Public Works director Brian Gilbert.

Gilbert said Waste Management notified the city several months ago it was planning to scale back trash pickups, a change that city officials realized was going to be very unpopular. ''Waste Management was already losing money on us because we have one of the few flat rate contracts in the state," Gilbert said. ''We're currently paying $625,000 a year for trash pickup and disposal no matter how much we put out when the market rate says we should be paying $300,000 to $400,000 more than that."

The city is in the 10th year of a 15-year contract with the New Hampshire trash hauler, Gilbert noted, so Waste Management cannot raise its rates. Additionally, Gilbert noted, a flat rate system doesn't provide any incentive for city residents or businesses to recycle.

In fact, Gilbert said, many businesses exceed the contractual limit of 90 gallons of trash per pickup. ''We analyzed the situation and realized pretty quickly we could reduce the amount of trash by offering recycling," Gilbert said. ''In some cases, 80 percent of what they are putting out is waste paper and cardboard anyway. Some business owners had been asking for it anyway because they were feeling guilty about not recycling."

Since the city was negotiating a new recycling contract, Gilbert said he merely requested the additional weekly service for the downtown area be added in as part of the contract bids. Under the city's new contract with North Shore Recycled Fibers, the city will pay $135,000 for citywide recycling services and will receive a rebate of $7.50 per every ton of paper collected.

''Over time I expect the city will make some money on the recycling," Gilbert said, noting that Waste Management has been instructed to leave at curbside any obvious recyclable material that is put out with the regular trash. ''We see this as an overall improvement to our trash collection services though we are aware that this means the businesses are going to have to do the work of sorting their trash."

Gilbert said he has also gone door-to-door to speak with business owners and managers about their trash disposal needs in hopes of easing the transition to the new program. ''We're trying to meet individual needs as best we can," he said, noting that restaurants in particular have distinct trash pickup needs because of the nature of what they throw out.

''Some businesses may need to hire their own trash service for a couple days a week because twice-weekly isn't going to work for them," Gilbert said. ''I've struck up a few trash partnerships, if you will, and have convinced a couple businesses they ought to share a dumpster."

North Shore Recycled Fibers is also positioning two dumpsters behind Main Street businesses for the disposal of cardboard to reduce the amount of paper that has to be set out at curbside, Gilbert said.

Dennis Welcome, the executive director of the Alliance for Amesbury, said he thought the changes were positive. ''A few businesses have questions, but I think having the recycling definitely helps to make up for what they are losing in terms of trash pickup," Welcome said. ''Businesses know they need to do their part recycling what they can."

Hildt said the city needs to encourage more residential recycling. ''Right now only about 30 percent of Amesbury residents recycle," Hildt said.