Incentive-based municipal solid waste policy makes $ense:
Wake County’s landfill will likely last longer than originally forecast, but public and private solid-waste experts are already planning to have solutions in hand when space runs out. …
WasteZero helps communities switch to the model known as pay-as-you-throw. Residents have to buy special trash bags to use; otherwise, their trash won’t be taken to the landfill. Joshua Kolling-Perin, director of public engagement for the company, said communities usually charge about $1 for a small bag and $2 for a large bag.
Kolling-Perin compared the model to other utilities, where the amount paid depends of the person’s use of the service. Everyone paying a flat fee “gives no incentives to throw away less, recycle more – to create less waste,” he said.
Switching to pay-as-you-throw reduces solid waste by an average of 46 percent across their 800 communities, he said. The average household ends up using 1.25 trash bags a week. Assuming a household used a large bag for $2 each, that would be about $130 a year. Kolling-Perin said his company encourages towns and counties to reduce other trash fees when making the switch, as well as to make recycling free.
Ah, don't you hate it when people use $ense, when money is involved, instead of sense?
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