Pay As You Throw – An Incentive Based System

Town of West Boylston, MA

OverviewOverview

DEP GrantWhat is PAYT?

Who Pays for Trash Disposal?We All Do!

Although many people don’t know it, trash collection and disposal, is paid through local property taxes and cost a few hundred $ each household.

West Boylston trash and recycling #’s

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What is Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT)?

PAYT is a waste reduction program

With PAYT, each household trash disposal cost is based on how much is thrown away

Households that recycle more and produce less trash pay less.

Similar in concept to paying for the heat, electricity, or a co-pay for medical insurance

How does it work?

Typically, households pay their taxes which covers the program’s fixed costs (collection costs).

Residents purchase the town’s PAYT plastic bags. These are sold for a nominal fee (usually $1- 2) at convenient community locations.

The price of these bags cover trash disposal costs.

PAYT Curbside Options

Basic service program- residents put out 1 bag, container for “free” paid in taxes- all others need to be in a PAYT bag

Basic service coupon program- residents receive a coupon to get their free bags at a local store and all bags on curb are PAYT bags.

All trash bags need to be in PAYT bags.

Recycling is free for all programs

As with all PAYT program- it is a Voluntary program

Curbside PAYT

Where in MA Has PAYT Worked?

In 124 Massachusetts municipalities MA cities w/ curbside trash and recycling:

Gardner, Worcester MA suburbs w/ curbside trash and

recycling: Lunenburg, Plainville, Boxford, Maynard,

Northborough, Medway, Dighton MA communities w/ drop-off trash and

recycling programs Many programs have 10+ years

experience

PAYT is Working in Central Mass

Worcester Cut trash in Half North Brookfield reduced their waste by

20 % and increase recycling by 4% Lunenburg saved $100,000 in the first

year Ayer in the first few months saw a 53%

waste reduction Northborough experienced a 35% waste

reduction in the first 3 months, which is a savings of $75,000

Why does PAYT work?

Economically Smart – Each household is responsible for its trash and has a financial incentive to recycle.

Equitable - Those who produce less waste pay less.

Environmentally Sustainable – Conserves natural resources, energy and disposal capacity.

Every Ton of paper we recycle saves:

17 Trees that are 20 years old 4,200 kwh of energy (enough to power the average

home for 6 months)

7,000 gallons of water 664 quarts of oil 3 cubic yards of landfill space 84 lbs. of air pollutants 36 lbs. of water pollutants 176 lbs. of solid waste from raw wood

production

What are the $takes across the State?

In both commercial and residential sectors:

>1.5 million tons of paper/year is disposed each year

1 million tons of this can realistically be recovered

At tip fees of $75/ton , Massachusetts could save $75M/year on disposal

At $35/ton for Mixed Paper, Massachusetts

could recover $35M/year in commodity value

PAYT Working in Curbside Communities

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Non PAYT

Non-PAYT vs. PAYT curbside communities

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Solid Waste System ProgramCURRENT

Trash and Recycling Collection Costs-

$243,000 Disposal Costs- $76 * 2118 tons=

$160,968

Recycling Rate 23% $404,000 on the tax

base

Pay As You Throw

Trash and Recycling Trash in PAYT bags Most program have a

Waste Reduction of 30% = disposal costs

Recycling Rate could be 40%

$207,000 on the tax base

Recycling works in Mass

Adding over $600 million into the state’s economy each year

Employing over 19,000 people.

By recycling over 6 million tons each year, we prevented the need to construct 16 new incinerators or landfills.

The amount of materials recycled saves enough energy to power 140,000 homes each year

Reduces greenhouse gas emissions by almost 900,000 tons of carbon equivalent per year

Common Objections…

More illegal dumping?No. Experience in other

towns proves the illegal dumping can be avoided WITH:

Good education, Good recycling

options, Good enforcement

Summary of thePros and Cons of PAYT

Equitable way to fund trash and recycling services

Economically self-supporting; savings from reduced disposal costs more than cover the added overhead.

Effective incentive to reduce waste

Environmentally beneficial and sustainable program

Change is always a challenge.

Cost of bags/tags is a new expense

May be a hardship for some low-income residents

Fees not deductible from federal taxes

 

Jones Trash Bill - $200/yearSmith Trash Bill - $200/year

If you consider this unfair

You need to consider PAYT

Need more information?

Irene Congdon (Mass DEP Municipal Assistance Coordinator-Central Region)Tel: (978) 597-9191Email: Irene_Congdon1@yahoo.com

Or visit www.mass.gov/dep and www.epa.gov.

What is in our trash?

Paper38%

Glass7%

Other15%

Plastics9%

Food Waste7%

Metal8%

Yard Waste16%

Mass Waste Ban Law

Massachusetts Waste Ban Law: The Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) “waste ban” regulations at 310 CMR 19.017.

What is banned? Recyclable Paper: All paper, cardboard, and

paperboard products, Containers: glass, metal, plastic bottles, leaves & yard waste, Lead-acid batteries, white goods, whole tires, cathode ray tubes: televisions, computer

monitors.