United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5306W)
EPA530-E-99-002a
October 1999
http://www.epa.gov/mswclimate
Pay-As-You-Th row
A Cooling Effect on
Climate Change
Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) is a program that encourages residents to reduce the amount
of waste they generate and to recycle more. The benefits of this program go beyond the
obvious advantages of generating less waste. The manufacture and distribution of prod-
ucts and the subsequent management of municipal solid waste (MSW) contribute to the
formation of greenhouse gases. To lower greenhouse gas emissions from these actions, as
well as for other environmental benefits, EPA is encouraging waste prevention and recy-
cling (jointly referred to as waste reduction) through the PAYT Outreach Initiative.
WHAT \s PAYT?
PAYT programs break with tradition
by ensuring that households see and
feel the cost of waste disposal ser-
vices. Under a traditional system, residents
pay indirectly for these services through
their property taxes or through a flat fee.
"With PAYT, residents pay directly for trash
services based on the amount of waste they
throw away—similar to the way they pay
for electricity, gas, and other utilities.
When consumers pay for every bag or can of
waste they generate, they are motivated
to recycle more and look for creative ways
to prevent waste in the first place. In
communities that implement PAYT,
overall waste disposal can decline
by 14 to 27 percent on average.
In addition, recycling rates often
increase dramatically in these communities,
sometimes reaching double or even triple
what they had been before the program was
implemented.
Some residents in PAYT communities
change their behavior in other significant
ways. While shopping, they are more likely to
purchase items in bulk and to select products
with the least amount of unnecessary packag-
ing. Rather than throw items away, a PAYT
household is likely to look first for ways to
reuse these goods or to give them away, as
charitable donations, for example. Rather
than bag yard trimmings and leaves, house-
holds might choose instead to compost these
materials in their backyards.
How DOES PAYT
HELP REDUCE
GREENHOUSE CAS
EMISSIONS?
PAYT programs are based on a simple
premise: trash services are not free. One
important cost of solid waste, in addi-
tion to its other environmental effects,
is climate change. Whenever products
are made, distributed, and disposed of,
greenhouse gases are released and con-
tribute to climate change. Community
PAYT programs—which spur residents to
prevent and recycle more waste—can reduce
greenhouse gas emissions significandy.
When we reduce, reuse, and recycle products,
we decrease the greenhouse gas emissions
associated with making, distributing, and dis-
posing of these products. For example, when
we buy in bulk, we purchase less packaging.
That means lower energy requirements for
manufacturing. It means less waste that
Printed on paper that contains at least 30 percent postconsumer fiber.
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might create mediane emissions in landfills, and, if paper
products are at issue, it means more trees standing in die for-
est to absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
Is it possible to measure die climate change benefits of
PAYT? Yes! To help quantify die climate change benefits of
waste reduction programs such as PAYT, EPA conducted a
comprehensive study of die relationship between solid waste
management and climate change. The study estimated die
greenhouse gas emissions associated with managing major
commodity types in die MSW stream. The
study resulted in die development of green-
house gas emission factors that can be used
to calculate the climate change benefits of
various waste management practices.
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To analyze die specific climate change benefits of PAYT pro-
grams, EPA used these greenhouse gas emission factors in
combination widi die results of a PAYT study conducted by
researchers at Duke University. The Duke study analyzed
program statistics from 212 PAYT communities across the
country and calculated die average amount of per capita
waste reduction experienced by these communities. EPA
then calculated die per capita climate change impact of
PAYT using this average PAYT waste reduction percentage
and the greenhouse gas emission factors.
EPA estimates that for each person participating in a PAYT
program, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by an aver-
age of 0.088 metric tons of carbon equivalent (MTCE, the
basic unit of measure for greenhouse gases). This means that
a community of 100,000 people could potentially reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by 8,800 MTCE by implementing
a PAYT program. This calculation is based on die assump-
tion diat residents in PAYT communities recycle a mk of the
most common recyclable materials (e.g., plastic bottles,
newspapers, steel and aluminum cans).
How CAN I MEASURE
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION
REDUCTIONS?
Along with die more obvious recycling and waste prevention
impacts of PAYT, measuring its climate change benefits can
help describe a program's full environmental advantages to
elected officials, residents, and odier stakeholders. Also,
waste reduction programs such as PAYT can play an integral
part in a community's climate change action plan. Here's
how you can calculate the potential climate change benefits
of your PAYT program:
Use the National Average. If you wish to
use die national average for greenhouse
gas reductions, you can multiply the
number of program participants by 0.088 MTCE as illus-
trated in the example above. The resulting number is the
estimated average annual reduction in greenhouse gases for
your program.
Use Local Data. If you wish to obtain an
estimate tailored to your community's
specific PAYT program, you can apply
your own data by using EPA's "WAste Reduction Model
(WARM). This easy-to-use spreadsheet applies the same
greenhouse gas emission factors mentioned above to your
community's specific waste management situation. Please
note that in order to use WARM, you will need to have data
on the amount of waste your community generated and
reduced both before and after PAYT was implemented.
WARM is available on EPA's Climate Change and Waste
Web site at-.
Should your community consider PAYT? If your communi-
ty's planners are looking for ways to get residents to put
more recyclables out at die curb and generate less trash, dien
the answer is probably yes. The additional climate change
benefits enjoyed by PAYT communities show diat it can be
an environmentally sustainable way to manage our nation's
solid waste.
Pay-as-you-throw gives individuals an incentive to generate
less trash and recycle more.
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