Waltham could be getting cleaner and greener in the near future, thanks to the hard work and determination of a group of middle school girls.

The Waltham City Council passed a resolution asking for larger residential recycling containers Monday night, based on recommendations recently made to the council by the Lollibots, an all-girl engineering team from Waltham.

The council is asking the mayor to work with the city recycling department to provide all residents with large, covered recycling containers at a free or reduced cost. The city currently supplies smaller 18 gallon recycling bins to residents, which has stifled recycling and caused litter, according to both the Lollibots and city officials.

Councilor Robert Logan said that when he heard the Lollibots presentation, the recommendation for larger containers stood out.

“Obviously there’s an initial cost…but the city would, in the long run, come out ahead,” Logan said.

Logan said the larger containers would hold more recyclables and also encourage more residents to recycle.

Since the city pays per ton for trash removal, he said, “When we can move materials from the trash stream to the recycling stream, we save the city money. So in the long run it’ll pay for itself.”

The need for larger containers was just one of the Lollibots recommendations, which were based on research the group did last year on recycling in Waltham and surrounding communities. They also called for increased public awareness and high school involvement as two other ways to improve recycling in the city.

In a survey given to Waltham residents, the Lollibots found that the single biggest obstacle to recycling, according to respondents, was that containers were too small.

Survey respondents said they couldn’t fit all of their recyclables into the containers, and as Logan also pointed out, a strong gust of wind could send bottles and paper flying across the neighborhood.

“There are so many things this could address. It could save the city money, improve the environment, increase our recycling rate, it could help reduce litter in the city,” Logan said. “So I think this is something that is very worthwhile.”