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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. Most cities in the United States charge residents a fixed annual fee for waste collection services regardless of the amount of waste they generate. There may be a limit on the number of containers a household can place curbside, but this number is generally high and unenforced. Whether families regularly place two or six bags curbside on collection day, they pay the same amount of money. In addition, the flat fee is usually taken from a general tax assessment; and residents are often unaware of the actual portion of their assessment that goes toward local MSW management. Despite the additional costs generated by the higher levels of waste in the form of higher landfill tipping fees, labor costs, and other collection costs, residents essentially face a zero private marginal cost to garbage production.
WasteZero Trash Metering - an alternative to the traditional flat fee approach - simply charges households for waste collection and disposal services based on the number of trash bags collected. WasteZero Trash Metering systems are usually run in combination with an aggressive recycling program in order to create viable substitutes for waste disposal and to engender a collective commitment to resolving the community's MSW management problem. These programs usually do not charge for the collection of recyclable or compostable materials if residents separate them from the rest of the solid waste stream.
Solid waste program managers have historically encouraged recycling by appealing to residents' sense of contributing to the environment or reducing overall solid waste costs. In contrast, WasteZero Trash Metering provides residents with a direct price incentive to reduce their production of MSW. As a result, recycling programs in cities with WasteZero Trash Metering consistently have significantly higher participation levels and higher recycling rates in comparison to cities without Trash Metering.
In Malden, Massachusetts, for example, the WasteZero System is credited with raising recycling rates 188%, results the US EPA calls "staggering." When Concord, New Hampshire, implemented the WasteZero System, the city's recycling tonnage doubled. Binghamton, New York, one of our oldest partner communities, has one of the top recycling rates in the state.
Unlike recycling programs alone, a Trash Metering program, such as the WasteZero System, encourages both source reduction and waste diversion activities. Indeed, WasteZero 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.
Moreover, by assessing a per-bag charge for a "bad" activity, Trash Metering can lead to greater awareness of the economic and environmental costs of waste disposal. Thus, in addition to trying to save money on waste bills, residents may begin to view source reduction and materials diversion as intrinsically "good" activities.
Currently, landfill tipping fees - the charges assessed for dumping MSW at a landfill - range from $20/ton, where state laws are less stringent and land costs are low, to over $150/ton, in states with tough disposal laws, high land costs, and active public opposition to new disposal facilities. Higher landfill tipping fees make market-based incentives more effective, as the savings related to reducing MSW flows to landfills can be included when calculating materials diversion and source reduction costs and benefits.
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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 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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