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Waste Reduction |
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The Trash Metering (PAYT) approach to solid waste management has proven to be the single most effective way to reduce residential solid waste. Period. The U.S. EPA, more than a dozen state DEP commissioners, and the nation's leading independent researchers all agree.
The chief of municipal waste reduction for the State of Massachusetts says, "pay-as-you-throw is the single most effective way for a community to reduce their waste and increase recycling, and that's good for the environment, good for the bottom line, and fairer to citizens. . . You are paying for trash services in the same way you are paying for the amount of water you use or the electricity you use."
Connecticut DEP Commissioner Gina McCarthy says, "If every town in Connecticut switched to [Trash Metering] waste management and achieved a 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."
"Our research," says economist Lisa Skumatz, principal of Skumatz Economic Research Associates, "shows that if you look at the cost per greenhouse gas emissions reduction from some of the PAYT and recycling programs and compare that to what you get from energy efficiency programs, we find that the recycling and PAYT programs are cheaper per metric ton of carbon emission reduction and easier to implement."
Washington agrees: "EPA endorses this approach to solid waste management, as it has proven to be the single most effective way to reduce residential solid waste, increase recycling, and decrease waste-related greenhouse gas emissions."
How much waste reduction are we talking about?
A 2008 analysis of all WasteZero communities found that the WasteZero System decreased residential MSW by an average 43 percent in weight. Many of our communities have reduced waste by more than 50%!
That makes the WasteZero System two times more effective for diverting MSW than the average PAYT system in the U.S. (The EPA says, overall, the 7,100 U.S. communities currently running Trash Metering programs are diverting 17% - 23% of MSW.)
In its Spring 2009 PAYT Bulletin, the EPA called WasteZero's results "staggering."
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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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