Saturday mornings there can be long lines at the township's recycling center, but those days may become a thing of the past as officials look for ways to save money.

Residents regularly bring bottles, cans, paper and plastics to the recycling center rather than setting them out at the curb for pick-up, and Township Administrator Tim Gordon said he'd like to see that practice end.

The township converted to single-stream recycling a year ago, which allows residents to place any recyclable at the curb for pick-up weekly rather than having to wait for a specific time.

If residents didn't bring their regular recyclables to the yard, Gordon said, it would mean the township wouldn't need to pay to store and haul the containers from the yard to a recycling plant.

Additionally, it may mean less workers are needed in the yard, including on busy Saturdays. Right now, four or five people work on a Saturday, which is overtime pay. If recyclables are not brought to the yard, it would mean only one person is needed, Gordon said.

"Eventually on a Saturday, we may need less people working," he said. "Less people come, the less labor we'd need."

The problem may be for some businesses who bring recyclables to the yard, he said. They may not have the space to store something like cartons nor have the curbside space to set them out once a week, he said.

Meanwhile, the market for recyclables is volatile, Gordon said, and it means sometimes the township is paid for them and sometimes they are not.

"We're getting paid and then we're not getting paid," he said. "We may get a little now, but it shifts quickly."

The recycling revenue is not budgeted because the market is not easy to predict, he said, and it is not a significant amount of money.

"We can't count on it," he said. "We will use it to pay for unexpected trash and recycling costs."

But the township is never charged for their recyclables while other communities may get charged, Gordon said. Because Millburn-Short Hills was one of the first communities to use single stream recycling, he said, they are given some leeway.