| Here's an idea: What if we were to
charge for garbage collection in the same way we charge for
water? The water bill for your xeriscaped yard is much less
than that of a neighbor who needs to water his large Kentucky
Bluegrass lawn daily during the summer-long struggle to keep
it green. Similarly, as conscientious recyclers, shouldn't your
family be rewarded for your efforts to save valuable resources
(just as you are for conserving water), rather than being charged
the same as the household who throws everything away?
In Boulder County today, garbage collection
rates are not unit-based, like water rates, but rather volume-based:
it costs just slightly more to throw out two garbage cans
per week than to throw out one. This volume-based approach
to charging for garbage collection creates an incentive to
produce more trash; the more you throw out, the less it costs
on a volume basis. But you don't pay less per unit of water
if you use more of it; why then should your cost per unit
of trash go down if you throw out more garbage?
The unit-based approach to garbage collection
is called Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT), and is used in thousands
of communities across the United States. In fact, though it
has yet to take hold in Boulder County, PAYT is one of the
hottest new waste reduction trends spreading across the country.
Here's how it works. Once a "unit" is defined
(for example, a typical 32-gallon trash can), each can of
service costs the same. Throwing out two cans per week costs
twice as much as throwing out one can. Five-can service costs
five times as much as one-can service, and so on. This creates
a financial incentive for households and rewards those who
reduce waste and recycle - the less you throw out, the less
you pay.
Key to making PAYT work is providing opportunities
for people to do something with their trash other than throwing
it out. Waste reduction and precycling education programs,
reuse facilities, expansion of curbside collection services,
yard and other organic waste composting programs - these are
the other puzzle pieces needed to allow PAYT to flourish.
A recent EPA analysis has shown that PAYT
is a key component of the discard management programs of communities
diverting 50% or more of their waste stream. With our own
50% diversion goal looming ahead of us in 2005, the time has
come for Boulder County communities to take a serious look
at Pay-As-You-Throw as a waste reduction tool for the future.
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The Boulder City Council took a bold
step forward in September when it unanimously adopted a new
trash hauling ordinance that mandates a unit-based ç or Ïpay
as you throwÓ ç approach to charging for garbage collection
in the city. Come November 2001, recyclers generating one garbage
can per week or less will be financially rewarded for their
efforts to keep valuable resources out of the landfill ç and
Boulder will be on its way to becoming a Ïone-can town.Ó
In Boulder County today, garbage collection
rates are volume-based: it costs just slightly more to throw
out two garbage cans per week than to throw out one. Pay As
You Throw (PAYT) charges for garbage collection by the unit,
with each unit (a 32-gallon trash can) costing the same. With
BoulderÌs PAYT ordinance, throwing out two cans per week will
cost twice as much as throwing out one can. Customers will
be charged only for the level of service they require, creating
greater control over the amount of money they pay for waste
collection.
Recent research reveals that Boulder is
only halfway to its 50% waste diversion goal. Data provided
by Western Disposal shows that in 1999 fully 79% of their
residential customers, a vast majority of BoulderÌs households,
subscribed to at least the two-can level of weekly trash service.
The experiences of Bellevue, WA, San Jose, CA and Seattle,
which have reduced two-can service customers to 38%, 13% and
11% respectively with PAYT, clearly show that we can do better.
The new ordinance also requires trash haulers
in the city to provide residential pick-up of recyclable materials,
allowing current Recycle Boulder funding ç approximately $880,000
per year ç to be used for expanded recycling services for
Boulder residents and businesses.
A Proven Success
In over 4,000 communities nationwide, PAYT has had a dramatic
impact on residential waste diversion rates. San Jose, CA
(population 850,000) saw its residential recycling rate increase
from 28% to 43% in the first year of its PAYT program, and
today that rate is 55%. Olympia, WA (population 38,000), which
implemented PAYT in 1961, recently switched from weekly to
biweekly trash collection, citing volumes too low to justify
weekly collection, and Seattle (population 550,000) has increased
its recycling rate from 19% to 49% through PAYT. Between 1989
and 1996, Bellevue, WA (population 104,000) saw its household
waste disposal decrease by almost 50% and its residential
recycling rate jump to 60%.
In our own backyard, Loveland (population
45,000) has seen its diversion rate skyrocket from zero to
56% since instituting PAYT in the early 1990s. Average trash
landfilled per household dropped from 6.6 pounds per day in
1989 to 2.6 pounds per day in 1996 ç a 60% reduction.
A Program Builder
Key to making PAYT work is providing convenient opportunities
for people to do something with their trash other than throwing
it out. Boulder already has a number of such opportunities
in place, and the proposed expansion of the Recycle Boulder
program to include the collection of additional materials
at curbside, as well as yard and organic waste composting,
among other programs, will allow PAYT to flourish.
Cities and towns across the country
have embraced PAYT and used the equity and incentives inherent
in the system to meet economic and environmental sustainability
goals. The adoption of the PAYT garbage collection fee structure
and the future expansion of the Recycle Boulder program will
provide Boulder residents with the additional waste diversion
services they desire while moving us closer to our 50% waste
diversion goal. They are also the first steps towards Boulder
becoming a Ïone-canÓ town and joining the thousands of communities
around the country that are rewarding their recyclers.
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