OWEGO (WBNG) -- Garbage haulers in Tioga County have until the first of the year to come up with a plan to offer recycling pickup in addition to their normal garbage route.

This comes after the county passed a law ending their curbside recycling program.

Corey Relyea of RPM group in Owego says he just started offering a trash pickup service and as a result of the new law has had to sort out how to offer an affordable recycling service as well.

"One of the things we opted to do was offer the recycling which is a state law, but we're going charge a five dollar fee every month for the recycling and that's just for us to offset the cost of the transfer and trucking of the recycling," he said.

Residents have consistently expressed irritation with the new law which officials say is meant to avoid a hefty hike in property taxes due to an unexpected rise in the cost of a new county recycling contract.

"It's been a big topic for us, everyone who reaches out to me and says can you provide garbage says can you also provide recycling and we're stuck with it at that point so we just ran with it," he said.

The new law takes effect January 1st. Relyea encourages residents to avoid throwing out their recyclables in the trash and instead find a recycling service that is affordable and works for you.