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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 (US EPA) have studied all the tools, all the programs, all the systems that cities and towns can employ to increase recycling rates.
What they discovered is that the single most effective thing a community can do to increase recycling is implement Trash Metering (PAYT).
Trash Metering has a larger impact on recycling than adding additional materials, changing frequency of collection, or other changes and modifications to programs, according a recent EPA study.
US cities are turning to Trash Metering because
- Communities have doubled and even tripled their recycling rates after implementing the WasteZero System.
- The programs encourage not just recycling, but also reuse, composting, and waste reduction. Trash Metering has reduced trash by an astounding degree - in Massachusetts, for example, 11 of the 15 towns with the lowest per-capita disposal tonnage have Trash Metering programs in place.
- The programs are fair. When the cost of trash disposal is hidden in property taxes or charged at a flat rate, households that recycle and prevent waste subsidize their neighbors' wastefulness. Under Trash Metering, households pay only for what they throw away.
- The programs allow communities to save money. When a Trash Metering community reduces waste by 50 percent, it means 50 percent savings to the municipality. As the US EPA put it recently, "If a community pays 50 percent less for disposal, that's a result worth the effort."
- National, state and local environmental officials love Trash Metering. Connecticut DEP Commissioner Gina McCarthy says that if every town in Connecticut switched to Trash Metering and achieved an average 40 percent diversion rate, "then Connecticut would eliminate an estimated 595,000 MTCE (Million Ton of Carbon Equivalent) from the atmosphere - the equivalent of taking 446,250 cars off the roads. That is probably close to 20 percent of the registered/insured cars in the State." The US EPA says Trash Metering "has proven to be the single most effective way to reduce residential solid waste, increase recycling, and decrease waste-related greenhouse gas emissions."
The Boston Globe recently reported that a decade of recycling education has failed to even budge recycling rates in the state of Massachusetts - but cities implementing Trash Metering, reports the Globe, have had "consistent" success.
Trash Metering has had a remarkable impact on the nation's environment. Trash Metering is responsible for eliminating 6.5 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) each year that would have otherwise been landfilled or incinerated. From a local perspective, most cities that implement Trash Metering immediately cut their waste by 20 percent or more. Even more impressive, the 300 U.S. cities that have adopted WasteZero Trash Metering have reduced trash by an average 43%, and frequently by as much as 50%.
WasteZero has been recognized by environmental officials and renowned economists as a leader in Trash Metering. The US EPA has lauded WasteZero's remarkable environmental benefits, calling the WasteZero System's impact on municipal recycling rates "staggering."
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Trash Metering |
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| Historically, municipal solid waste management programs have provided residents with little incentive either to limit the amount of garbage they produce through source reduction, or to divert waste from the landfill or incinerator through composting and recycling activities. |
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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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