Municipal Experience with “Pay-as-You-Throw” Policies: Findings from a National Survey

Abstract

Municipal Experience with Policies: Findings From a National Survey Based on a large, nationally representative sample of cities with recycling programs, this study examines whether a Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) pricing policy for solid waste collection and disposal service is an incentive for households to change their waste disposal and recycling behaviors. The study finds that cities that adopted this policy realized significant reductions in the amount of waste disposed per household and significant increases in the amount of materials recycled, controlling for the effects of other policies and demographic features. The study concludes that a PAYT policy has potential to help local officials advance the strategic waste management goals of waste reduction, increased recycling, and control of waste disposal costs. Municipal Experience with As You Throw Policies: Findings From a National Survey Pay as you throw (PAYT), also known as variable rate or unit based pricing charges customers based on the amount of solid waste they discard. This strategy for pricing local solid waste collection and disposal services is analogous to that used by local utilities for electricity, gas, water, and sanitary sewer services where customers pay for what they use, except in this case, citizens pay for how much they throw away. Once limited to a few hundred cities 20 years ago, there now are 4,032 communities in 43 states with PAYT programs (U.S. EPA 2000). Collectively, these communities serve about 10% of the U.S. population or about 27 million residents (Burgiel and Randall 1998). What prompted local officials in these communities to tackle the political challenges of persuading citizens to pay for solid waste collection and disposal based on the volume of waste discarded? Why adopt this method of financing and abandon reliance on local taxes as the primary funding mechanism, especially when many citizens might conclude that they must now pay for this formerly free service? Similarly, are the merits of a variable fee system sufficient to overcome the simplicity of a flat fee policy that charges all households the same amount regardless of how much waste they place at the curb? What have communities with PAYT policies learned that might benefit other local officials considering adoption of this policy? There are several purported benefits of PAYT policies. Among the more prominent advantages described in the literature are the potential to: reduce solid waste collection and disposal costs for the community, reduce the volume of waste generated by households, and increase the levels of solid waste recycling and composting (Kutzmark and Canterbury 1996, Canterbury 1998, Horton 1999, Bauer and Miranda 1996). Claims of savings in collection and disposal costs are predicated primarily on less municipal solid waste (MSW) disposed by