It’s official.

The city of Kankakee will continue its curbside recycling program with contractor Republic Services of Phoenix, Arizona.

It became official at Monday’s City Council meeting when aldermen approved a five-year contract with the city’s longtime waste hauler.

An option to eliminate curbside recycling would have resulted in very little savings, according to the city’s license and franchise committee.

The Republic proposal was one of two the city received. A second proposal came from United Disposal, a Bradley-based operator owned by Bradley Mayor Mike Watson.

The current Republic contract expires Dec. 31.

If the city had decided to go with the proposal that did not include curbside recycling, it would have basically saved residents a total of about $15 a year.

Mayor Chris Curtis and City Manager Elizabeth Kubal did not view those small savings as being significant enough to forego curbside recycling. The administration recommended staying with the recycling program.

Curtis said the monthly savings would have needed to be in the $4- to $5-a-month range to make it appealing to go away from the recycling program, which collects recycling materials two times a month.

The Republic proposal to eliminate curbside recycling would have saved residents a little more than $1 a month.

The contract provides waste collection from about 7,000 units in Kankakee.

While final costs now will be put together, the monthly residential charge will be in the range of $25 in the contract’s first year.

The United Disposal proposal with curbside recycling would have had costs to residents closer to $40.