It’s getting cheaper to recycle.

The Manteca City Council is expected to approve contracts when they meet tonight for handling the disposal of municipal green waste as well as that of co-mingled recyclables.

Forward Inc. — the firm that currently takes the city’s glass, cans, newspapers, cardboard, and such — has offered the city a five-year contract for processing and disposing of co-mingled recyclables. The rate of $36 per ton is what the firm is willing to pay. The big savings, though, comes with Forward Inc.’s willingness to haul the recyclables after they are taken by city collection trucks to their landfill operation on Austin Road to a processing facility they own in Fremont at no additional charge. Currently Forward Inc. is charging $50 per load for that service.

Manteca received $140,852 in payment for recycled materials during the 2011-12 fiscal year.

Lathrop-based Harvest Power California has proposed a three-year contract to process green waste. The city currently pays $19.31 per ton to have green waste taken from them and recycled. The new rate is $19.25 a ton.

Manteca spent $214,078 in the 2011-12 fiscal year for green waste disposal.

The council meets at 7 p.m. at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.