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Recycling |
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Installing a Trash Metering program is the single most effective change a community can make to a curbside or drop-off recycling program. A recent study by the U.S. EPA found that implementing Trash Metering has a larger impact on recycling than adding additional materials, changing frequency of collection, or other changes and modifications to programs. All 300 WasteZero communities have reported dramatic increases in their recycling rates; indeed, in many WasteZero communities, recycling has increased by more than 100%.
Recycling is an economic development tool as well as an environmental tool. Recycling offers direct development opportunities for communities. Recycled materials are a local resource that can contribute to local revenue, job creation, business expansion, and the local economic base. According to the Institute for Local Self Reliance in Washington, D.C., on a per-ton basis, sorting and processing recyclables sustain 10 times more jobs than landfilling or incineration. Making new products from the old offers the largest economic pay-off in the recycling loop. Some recycling-based paper mills and plastic product manufacturers, for instance, employ on a per-ton basis 60 times more workers than do landfills. And a study by the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) found that recycling rather than discarding one ton of material produces an additional $101 in salaries and wages, $275 in goods and services, and $135 in sales. Overall, the positive economic impact of recycling is approximately twice that of disposal, says the CIWMB report.
Removing Organic Matter from the Waste Stream. The WasteZero System provides residents with an economic incentive to compost organic matter - such as yard trimmings and food scraps -- and to leave grass clippings on the lawn. Yard trimmings and food scraps account for 25 percent of the nation's yearly waste. These organic materials are bulky, take up space in landfills, and produce methane gas that must be recovered or burned and produce liquids that contribute to leachate. In 2006, 67.5% of the nation's yard and food waste was burned at combustion facilities or buried in landfills.
Several prominent studies by the US EPA, Duke University, the Reason Foundation, and a host of other private and public organizations have shown a positive correlation between Trash Metering programs such as the WasteZero System and composting rates. Research by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for example, surveyed households in one New York county and found the Trash Metering program had a significant positive effect on participation in the county's composting program. The study concluded that since yard waste comprises about one-quarter of MSW, by weight, an incentive to participate in composting yard and food wastes is likely to generate substantial savings for a locality.
Reducing and Reusing. Trash Metering programs such as the WasteZero System encourage residents to change their behavior around waste and disposal. As the US EPA puts it, "while shopping, [residents] are more likely to purchase items in bulk and to select products with the least amount of unnecessary packaging. Rather than throw items away, a [Trash Metering] household is likely to look first for ways to reuse these goods or to give them away, as charitable donations, for example."
Some WasteZero municipalities have started electronics recycling days to remove electronic waste from the waste stream and to help household cut down on their trash volume. Many WasteZero communities have also reported a surge in garage sales and donations to charitable organizations in the months and years following adoption of the WasteZero System. Local shoe and bicycle repair shops, tailors, and small appliance repair shops are also the beneficiaries when residents are provided with an incentive to reuse.
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Trash Metering is Best for Recycling |
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| For decades, environmental scientists at the United States Environmental Protection Agency have studied all the tools, all the programs, all the systems that cities and towns can employ to increase recycling rates. |
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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 2010 analysis of all WasteZero communities found that the WasteZero System decreased residential MSW by an average 43 percent in weight. |
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