Recycling by residents is on the increase, according to a recent report by Town Administrator Mike Sullivan to the Board of Selectmen. The new figures showed that townwide recycling went from roughly 23 percent to roughly 27 percent since last July. The uptick accelerated in January, Sullivan said in an interview last week. Selectman Osler Peterson said the next step is to consider is shifting to a pay-as-you-throw trash and recycling system. Peterson, who keeps a blog about town issues at www.medfield02052.wordpress.com, posted about the matter May 29: “I think the lessons are clear, that if we want to save the town the most money and to recycle the most, we really need to start PAYT. The problem is that no one really likes PAYT, but even if we do not like PAYT we should really like the results we can get from using it . . . saving money and in doing our part to save the planet.’’