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Financial Impact |
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America's communities are discovering that waste reduction is not only a prudent environmental response, but also fiscally sound policy. WasteZero is proud to be part of this movement.
WasteZero provides the world's most effective programs for municipal governments to reduce solid waste, increase recycling, and generate revenues. The more than 300 U.S. cities that already use the WasteZero System for Trash Metering have reduced residential trash by an average of 43 percent, which allows for extended landfill life and dramatic savings in solid waste disposal costs. A recent report by the US EPA called WasteZero's results "staggering."
Economists say WasteZero's waste reduction model can be invaluable to financially strapped municipalities. The town of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, for example, implemented the WasteZero System two years ago. As a result, municipal solid waste tonnage was reduced in half, recycling soared, and new annual revenue was injected into the town budget. Standard and Poor's chief economist David Wyss says Dartmouth rose to the challenge of finding an innovative way to both provide a municipal service and obtain the revenue to pay for it. In a radically changed environment, says Wyss, it's precisely "the kind of thing [municipalities] can do."
CASE STUDY: MALDEN, MA
In 2008, Malden, Mass., officials needed to address a budget shortfall or risk further cuts in municipal services and personnel. The state legislature had passed more than $1 billion in statewide cuts to programs, which meant some of Malden's social services would be reduced. City leaders asked all departments to tighten their belts, reduce energy use, curb gasoline consumption for vehicles and search for other ways to save money.
To save money in the solid waste department, Malden started a WasteZero Trash Metering program in October 2008, which required residents to purchase official municipal trash bags ($2 for a large bag and $1 for a smaller bag) at local retailers and dispose of their waste only in those bags or in recycling bins. WasteZero would manufacture, distribute and warehouse the trash bags, handle accounting, and coordinate education and public outreach during program start-up.
By the end of the first year of WasteZero Trash Metering, Malden officials reported that the program had reduced waste and increased recycling beyond their expectations. As a result of Trash Metering, there are "less bags on the curb and more items in the recycling," said Malden Mayor Richard Howard.
Before Trash Metering, trash tonnage in Malden averaged 21,000 tons annually. Since the program started, the tonnage has been cut in half, to about 10,000 tons. The reduction equates to a per-household savings of $41.93 annually and an overall cost reduction for the city of $801,723 in avoided disposal fees. Bag sales, meanwhile, netted $1.7 million dollars in the program's first year. The city's recycling rate also increased 188 percent. "It is amazing the way citizens have responded to recycling," says City Councilor Paul Condon.
The U.S. EPA said, "the results in Malden are staggering..Malden residents not only learned to recycle but also learned to think twice about everything they throw away from old tennis shoes to packing peanuts. The political challenge of unit-based pricing may seem difficult on the surface but 50 percent diversion means 50 percent savings to the municipality. If a community pays 50 percent less for disposal, that's a result worth the effort."
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About Trash Metering |
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| Trash Metering systems, also known as pay-as-you-throw, user pay, unit-based pricing, and SMART (Save Money and Reduce Trash), charge households a rate based on how much waste they present for collection. Variations of this simple concept - akin to paying a water or electricity bill - have been embraced by about 7,100 municipalities in the United States, and have led to the diversion of some 6.5 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) per year that would otherwise have been landfilled or incinerated. Trash Metering programs are available to about 25% of the US population and about 26% of communities in the US - including 30% of the largest cities in the US. |
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Environmental Impact |
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| In more than 300 communities nationwide, the WasteZero System has dramatically impacted residential waste diversion. A 2008 analysis of all WasteZero communities found that the WasteZero System decreased residential MSW by an average 43 percent in weight. A recent study by the US EPA of all Trash Metering municipalities shows that about one-third of diverted waste is diverted directly to recycling, about one-third is diverted to composting, and one-third is "source reduced" (buying in bulk, reduced packaging, etc.). |
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