The County of Simcoe is considering introducing a pay as you go bag tag system. Rather that paying for garbage collection through a waste management levy issued to every town, individuals would have that payment reduced but have to purchase a tag for one bag of garbage per week. This initiative is designed to increase recycling rates and divert more waste. What evidence is there that is will be the case? or are be moving in the wrong direction? Is a full user pay system the way to go to increase diversion from landfills?
Stephan Kramp
Deputy Mayor County of Simcoe Councillor
Town of Midland
Canada
Pay as You Go Garbage Collection Systems
Sign in or Sign up to comment
We've run a pay-as-you-throw (volume based) system for 20 years here. I'm afraid, being a rural area, we haven't had the resources to measure and document its impact precisely, but our sense is that it has worked well for us. Well over 80% of our residents recycle. (60% have curbside service, the other 40% must use drop sites.)
My impression is that PAYT alone doesn't motivate the recycling, but it lays an excellent base. I've heard it said that humans always have multiple reasons for the actions they choose to take ("human behavior is overdetermined"). Saving money certainly adds an additional reason to recycle/reduce.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has extensive information on this tool at http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/tools/payt/index.htm.
Kate Melby
Emmet County Recycling
United States
Research has been carried out in Ireland on this topic - see http://www.paybyuse.ie/ for more information
Nial O'Connor
Local Authority Prevention Network - Monaghan County Council
Ireland
Hello, There has been extensive experience with 'pay as you throw' in North America and the results are very clear. PAYT reduces the amount of waste generated. A phone call to Guy Crittenden in Toronto at Solid Waste & Recycling Magazine www.solidwastemag.com or to Jerry Powell in Oregon at Resource Recycling Magazine would point you towards a wealth of information about research on this subject over the past 20 years. Both are knowledgeable and expert. Or visit their websites and enter 'payt' in the search box and you'll likely find dozens of articles on the subject.
Norm Ruttan
President
iWasteNot Systems
Canada
www.iwastenotsystems.com
San Juan County has a pay as you go system that has been so successful, it is threatening to bankrupt the County. Our solid waste utility is over one million dollars in debt. Why? Our solid waste disposal fees are $335/ton (our county is a group of islands). Until recently recycling has been free. With the big financial incentive, everyone is very aggressive about recycling. So the thing the county gets revenue for (solid waste disposal) kept going down, along with revenue/income. The thing the county did not get revenue for (recycling), but still has a disposal cost associated with it, kept going up, along with costs.
Now that the scales are tipped so far in the direction of decreasing revenue and increasing costs, the county is trying to get away from the pay-as-you-go model and fund the utility with a parcel fee. They have also started charging for recycling. Lots of mixed messages being sent out to residents. One thing is clear: $335/ton is really expensive trash!
Brian Rader
United States
Free "pay as you throw" seminar given by EPA Region 9 and Ecoconservation Institute.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FRDZSTK
Norm Ruttan
President
iWasteNot Systems
Canada
www.iwastenotsystems.com
Brian - not a bad problem to have from a waste management perspective. Why not keep the PAYT fees for trash and add a parcel task to cover materials management? Otherwise, you may find yourselves with too much trash again as the incentive to do otherwise goes away.
Jill Boone
Climate Change and Sustainability Manager
County of Santa Clara - Facilities and Fleet Dept.
United States
Hi Jill,
Thanks for the comment. I hope that they can come up w/ some kind of hybrid solution like you propose. Right now, the disposal fee has gotten so high that many people are taking their trash in their vehicle onto the ferry and disposing on the mainland, which leads to less revenue, which leads to more off-island dumping, etc. The system is in a tailspin, losing money every month, then they raise the disposal fee, then they lose even more money b/c people find "other" ways to get rid of their trash.
In November, our Council is planning to ask the voters for a parcel fee to provide a base level of operational funding for the solid waste utility. By then, the utility will be nearly two million dollars in the red. I am concerned that the people that live here have lost confidence in our government's ability to manage this issue. It is likely that the voters will vote down the initiative. I think privatization may be on the horizon...
Thanks!
Brian Rader
Pollution Prevention Specialist
San Juan County
United States
I would like to thank you all for the helpful comments and directions to informaiton in this thread. I look forward to sharing this site and information with my colleagues at Simcoe County Council here in Ontario.
Stephan Kramp
Deputy Mayor County of Simcoe Councillor
Town of Midland
Canada
Brian,
This is such a wonderful example for a systems theory reflection. I remember an example in the Fifth Discipline about the circular process of always taking action a step behind and making the system swing even more out of control. That one was on keeping beer in stock.... I'm interested to know how this turns out for you as we can all learn from it!
Jill
[email protected]
Jill Boone
Climate Change and Sustainability Manager
County of Santa Clara - Facilities and Fleet Dept.
United States
...
In Switzerland the "pay per bag" principle has been introduced in most municipalities over the last ten or fifteen years. It's considered quite a success. Interestingly it was easier to introduce in the german speaking parts of the country than in french or italien speaking areas. There was a study in 2003 but its available only in french or german (http://www.bafu.admin.ch/publikationen/publikation/00521/). You may find some general information here: http://www.bafu.admin.ch/umwelt/status/03964/index.html?lang=en. Tags and specially designd garbage bags are being sold in every supermarket. Folks at the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN may provide further assistance.
Cheers,
Oliver
Oliver Graf
Switzerland