PROVIDENCE — For many residents, trash day this week was a rude awakening as the city, for the first time, refused to pick up their trash unless they put out recycling bins.

Rows of the big green, city-issued trash cans were still filled with refuse by late Thursday morning. Warning notices were stuck to the front of the cans, reminding residents why their trash had not been picked up.

It was especially evident in some of the city’s densest neighborhoods.

Along busy Smith Street in Mount Pleasant to narrow residential streets in Silver Lake, trash containers were overflowing with garbage. Couches and televisions and parts of furniture remained on the sidewalks.

Maria Medeiros surveyed the scene on her block of Atwells Avenue in Olneyville, where at least 50 garbage cans sat untouched, including a dozen of hers.

“Recycling is a must, but this is just foolish,” said Medeiros, who owns four multifamily units along the block. “We’re going to have a city full of garbage … They thought they had a rat problem before, wait until this garbage stays out for a week.”

City Director of Operations Alix Ogden, who is coordinating the new recycling program, says the city is not backing down from its “no-bin, no-barrel” policy, which has been implemented in five other communities, including Smithfield, Cumberland, Lincoln, Cranston, and East Providence over the past two years. Coventry, Tiverton and North Smithfield will follow suit later this month.

“What we’re asking of many people is to recycle, sometimes for the first time,” said Ogden. “That’s a big change.”

At 10 percent, Providence has the lowest recycling rate (the amount of recyclables it brings to the landfill compared to the amount of trash it brings) in the state. Mayor David N. Cicilline’s goal is to double that rate to 20 percent, which should reduce the cost of waste-disposal fees at the landfill by nearly $300,000, and bring the city closer to the state’s goal of a 35 percent rate for all municipalities by 2012.

Technically, “no-bin, no-barrel” went into effect Nov. 1, but this is the first week that the city enforced it to the letter.

Ogden says there has been plenty of warning that it was coming: the administration announced the new trash policy over the summer, handing out fliers at community events and festivals. Cicilline personally gave out 100 free recycling bins in the city’s West End at the end of September.

Over the last three weeks, the city blanketed neighborhoods with information about the new program, from warning notices and stickers on trash bins to letters and brochures dropped in mailboxes. City workers also went block by block and hung notices on front doors reminding residents about the new rules, and Cicilline took to YouTube with another reminder late Thursday.

“The city has done a significant amount of outreach. It’s certainly not for lack of trying,” says Sarah Kite, director of recycling services at the state Central Landfill in Johnston.

Still, City Hall was inundated with complaints from residents on Thursday.

The Office of Neighborhood Services fielded at least 45 calls about garbage pickup, according to Ogden. City Council Chief of Staff Thomas Glavin said his office took another 20 or so calls, with many more constituents contacting their councilors directly. Those calling the city Department of Public Works were met with a busy signal or placed on hold because of the large volume of calls.

The chief complaints were that the city did not do enough to warn residents of the changes or explain exactly what was required of them.

Many, for example, did not realize that the city required that they put out two recycling bins (one for paper, one for plastic) for every trash barrel they put out. As a result, some of their trash was collected, but not all of it.

Others pulled their recycling bins from the streets once they had been emptied, only to realize that the trash hauler came later. The result? Their trash didn’t get picked up at all because, at the time, there were no recycling bins out.

“Whoever came up with implementing this has no common sense,” said Councilman Joseph Deluca, who represents Manton, Mount Pleasant and Olneyville.

City Councilors Josephine DiRuzzo, who represents Olneyville and Silver Lake, and John Lombardi, who represents Federal Hill, have each submitted resolutions calling for the administration to review the new trash policy.

DiRuzzo wants the city to suspend the program until it does a better job of notifying residents and landlords. She and other council members are even urging the city to give recycling bins away for free (they cost $5 now). “All I’m saying is let’s hold off until we can have all our ducks in order.”

KEY POINTS No-bin, no-barrel

Providence, with the lowest recycling rate in the state, is the latest community to impose stricter rules for garbage pickup to boost recycling and save money on trash hauling.

Two recycling bins are now required for every barrel of trash.

Recycling bins must be placed outside, even if they are empty.

Bins can be purchased, $5 each, from the Department of Public Works, 700 Allens Ave.

But two ordinary trash bins labeled “recycling” (with paper separated from plastic and metals) are sufficient.

The recycling bins need to stay out until after the trash is collected.

pmarcelo@projo.com