United States
                        Environmental Protection
                        Agency
                               Solid Waste and
                               Emergency Response
                               (5306W)
EPA530-N-01-001
Spring 2001
www.epa.gov/payt
&EPA
A Listing of Pay-As-You-Throw News and Events
                                                                    T
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                                              I      N
                         By  Popular  Demand:  Maine Turns
                         to PAYT
                         S  A  JT e were a bit surprised that people were talking about it," admitted Sam Morris,
                         |\/\A: senior planner at Maine's State Planning Office. "We weren't expecting residents to
                         !_JL_T__; be this supportive of PAYT, especially when they raised issues like the programs
                         greater fairness and its environmental benefits. They were talking about the future—about
                         their children—when they decided to speak up."
                            PAYT has grown significantly in Maine in the past few years—up to 128 programs from
                         fewer than 50 in 1995—in response to several developments. Cities and towns alike began to
                         notice the potential to contain or even reduce solid waste management costs with user-based
                         fees. In addition, recycling programs in the state have grown to the point where 90 percent of
                         all residents have access to recycling, which lead communities to begin looking for ways to
                         increase participation  rates. But one of the driving forces was the interest and, often, enthusi-
                         asm of neighbors in Maine to  adopt a program that they saw as both greener and fairer.
                            Morris explained that his office was often asked by local boards of selectmen or city coun-
                         cils to  attend local hearings or town meetings where a proposed PAYT program was under
                         discussion. Anticipating that residents might at first react negatively to the idea of paying
                         directly for their trash, he expected at these meetings to have to lay out all the reasons why
                         PAYT  was better for both residents and the community as a whole.
                                      Instead, Morris often found people standing up immediately to voice  their
                             ."    support for a program that they saw was likely to increase recycling amounts. In
                                   many cases, these  residents had been using recycling programs for a few years,
                                   and recognized that the next step to protect the environment was to involve more
                                   people. User fees just made sense to them. Just as important, they saw the  pro-
                                   gram  as more equitable,  because paying by the bag or can would let them control
                                   their own costs (and not pay for their neighbor's trash, if they chose not to recy-
                                  cle). Of course, there often were  residents at the meetings who were skeptical, but
                                 Morris was pleased with the overall level of support people were offering.
                                   For many Maine cities and towns, this public approval gives local decision-making
                               boards the political boost they needed to sign off on PAYT, a program increasingly
                               supported by solid waste departments. The buzz about PAYT has been spreading
                         among Maine's community waste management officials, who see the  economics of per-can or
  Printed on paper lhat contains at least 50 percent postconsumer fiber.
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   Continued from front cover
   per-bag fees as just making more sense. The cost of trash
   disposal in the state hovers around $50 per ton on aver-
   age, with some communities paying more than $75 per
   ton. Most of this waste goes to one of five waste-to-energy
   (WTE) incinerators; two large commercial landfills and
   about a dozen small ones take up the remainder.
      Typically, the cost of sending collected recyclables to
   regional recycling facilities is lower, often around $5 to
   $10 less per ton. In Portland, which implemented PAYT
   in 1999, the difference is $30 per ton. And "put-or-pay"
   agreements, under which a community is required to sup-
   ply a certain amount of trash or pay a penalty, aren't a
   concern for Maine city or town WTE contracts—the
   amount they must supply is usually small, and can be in
   die form of either trash to the incinerator or recyclables to
   the processing facility. In fact, trash amounts allowed to
   be sent to the WTEs are often capped at a certain level—
   creating a further incentive for communities to aggressive-
   ly promote recycling.
       As a result, communities  in Maine are implementing
   PAYT to help them contain costs, increase their recycling
   rates, cut overall trash disposal amounts, and better serve
   their residential customers. So far, it seems to be working.
   In Portland, the recycling rate shot up to 35 percent from
   7 percent in the year after they introduced combined
   PAYT and curbside collections. Other communities also
   have seen strong results. Supporting much of this has
   been Morris's State Planning Office, which has a staff per-
   son dedicated full-time to PAYT outreach and technical
   support. The office also runs a series of regional confer-
   ences throughout the state each year to  help get out infor-
   mation and ideas about user fees.
       Throughout each city's or town's decision-making
   process, Morris emphasized, his approach is to remain
   neutral and provide information as needed. "Our job  is
   just to explain the facts about PAYT," he added. "And if a
   community sees the benefits and elects to move ahead
   with it, we're there as a resource for them."
       For more information on PAYT programs in the state
   of Maine,  contact Sam Morris at
    or 207 287-8054.
         s part of the continuing American Big Cities
         (ABC) Campaign to encourage the growth of
     r\ PAYT around the country, the U.S.
  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
  International City/County Management Association
t (ICMA) have co-sponsored a series of technical assistance
\ workshops around the country to target large populations
,' for education about the implementation of successful
'• PAYT programs. Some of these cities are well on their way
: to program implementation, while others are just recog-
  nizing that PAYT could be a viable option for helping
  them manage their solid wastes. Depending on the stage
-_ they are at in the planning process, EPA has been provid-
  ing these cities with a variety of support, ranging from
  facilitating informational workshops with stakeholder
  groups to helping cities devise implementation plans and
  time lines.

  Cities up North See the Light
     Over the past year, as part of this ABC Campaign,
  EPA convened workshops in both Ann Arbor, Michigan,
  and Lowell, Massachusetts, a large suburban community
  about 30 miles northwest of Boston. Both cities requested
1 1-1/2 day technical assistance workshops involving partic-
  ipation of various community stakeholders. The hands-on
  sessions included brainstorming, identification of key
r issues and concerns, and case studies from other urban
  PAYT cities.    _ ^
     According to Bryan Weinert, the manager of resource
 -- recovery for the/city, of Ann ArbojJAnn Arbors work-
- shop provided a first-of-its-kirid opportunity for solid
  waste financing to  be discussed among interested stake-
  holders without the pressure of deficits or a looming crisis
  staring us in the face. An honest and reasoned assessment
  of PAYT was therefore possible, and I can't help but think
  Ann Arbor will the better for it."
      The workshop in Lowell took on a different format. In
  recent years, Massachusetts has witnessed rapid growth in
  the number of communities adopting PAYT programs.
  This workshop, which was co-sponsored by EPA and the
  Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
  (MDEP), was aimed at a number of larger Massachusetts
  municipalities that are considering PAYT as a solid waste
  management option. Through various presentations, the
  19 attendees representing city governments throughout
 ; the state learned about how PAYT-works, .options for pro-
 u gram design and rate structure, and* how PAYT can be
 ! effectively funded. In  a lively Q&A session, workshop
 ;. participants indicated a high level of interest in PAYT.
2 PAYT  Bulletin

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                                                           PAYT  Grantee  Update
On the day prior to the workshop, John Gibson, a Seatde
expert in the economics of solid waste management,
met with Lowell city staff to discuss full-cost accounting
and rate design. According to Joseph Lambert, PAYT
program and grants manager with MDEP, "We got the
large city audience we were looking for. The attendees
included finance directors, Department of Public Works
superintendents, and city managers, exactly the level we
need at these workshops."

Hopping on  the PAYT Bandwagon
Down South
   The technical assistance efforts in two large southern
cities—Fort Worth, Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana—
included an overview of PAYT but focused primarily on
rate structure design options and considerations and
developing implementation time lines. To smooth the
way toward PAYT, both cities convened strategic planning
sessions with key implementers and decision-makers to
wresde with their key barriers.
   In addition, John Gibson met with several key solid
waste officials in separate sessions to gain a better under-
standing of the economic considerations. As a result of his
discussions with these groups, Mr. Gibson was able to
provide feedback and suggestions to the larger group of
attendees on different rate structure options for the cities.
   With EPA and ICMA's assistance, both cities are
planning PAYT programs to determine if citywide imple-
mentation will work.
   Region 1—New Hampshire Governor's Recycling
  ^Program (GRP)

          Under a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
          (EPA) grant issued in 1999, the GRP developed a
          beta version of a software program called
   PriceSetter, which is designed to assist municipal officials
  Jn small communities to. estimate PAYT rates for bag pro-
   grams. The program uses data that communities readily
   have on hand and provides the ability to increase or
   decrease variable parameters .such as tipping fees, hauling
   fees, or waste reduction rates to develop various PAYT
!   pricing scenarios over, a five-year period.
;      Under an earlier EPA grant, the GRP promoted and
?  tracked PAYT activity in New Hampshire and conducted
j.  instructional workshops throughout New Hampshire,
:;; Maine, and Vermont. During the:course of this grant, the
:f  GRP realized that, one of the major challenges facing
^municipal officials in implementing PAYT was determin-
| ,ing a price per bag. As luck would have it, GRP staff
pjearned of the Ratemaker software while conducting
|f  research for the workshops. After attending an EPA-spon-
L  sored workshop highlighting the Ratemaker software and
^subsequently using the tool first hand, the GRP deter-
   mined that it was geared more toward larger communities,
,.  not small communities  such as diose in New Hampshire.
f   Consequently, it began  developing a comparable software
'  program that would benefit smaller communities.
r    The GRP s efforts resulted in the PriceSetter software.
   In 1999, the GRP applied for and received a second grant
0  from EPA to finalize the development of the software and
   promote the program nationally. The GRP completed the
I   beta version and sent it  to an industry-specific review team
^comprising local, state, and federal officials. The most sig-
•   nificant change made as a result of the review was the con-
:;   version of the program from Microsoft Excel to Visual
|-1' Basic format, which will allow users to download the pro-
i"  gram and use it without any special software program.
t*-   The GRP anticipates completing the final version of
|.  the PriceSetter program by mid-2001. Simultaneous with
r;  the release of PriceSetter, the GRP will promote a
FPriceSetter-specific Web site that will allow the program
jji:  and a "how-to" guide to be downloaded (at no cost)
P  directly from the site. The Web site will also provide links
^ to other PAYT sites and enable visitors to ask questions,
[p make suggestions, and share information.
:-":-    For more information on the GRP's PriceSetter pro-
»" gram, contact Todd Ellis at .
                                                                                              Continued on Page 4

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Region 4—North Carolina Division of Pollution
Prevention and Environmental Assistance (DPPEA)
      ince 1999, DPPEA has been providing direct techni-
      cal assistance and grant funding to North Carolina
      communities that need help implementing PAYT
programs.  DPPEA is working with two communities (the
city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County) to help them
implement PAYT, but expects to have workecLwith 10 by
the end of the grant'period. Based on the average size of
the communities under consideration, DPPEA expects to
increase the population served by PAYT programs in North
Carolina-by-moreThair450;OD.O. DPPEAJjopes that the
addition of 10 new PAYT comm^ities_.,ih the state will
provide a significant increase in examples for other state
communities to follow. To further improve waste reduction
in the state, DPPEA has been encouraging project commu-
nities to add backyard composting programs and expand
the number of materials collected as part of their recycling
programs. According to James Hickman, project manager
for the program, "these activities will help maximize the
efficiency of the PAYT systems, both in terms of waste
reduction and greenhouse gas offsets."
   In addition to direct technical assistance, DPPEA has  .
created a listserver and Web site that serve both North and
South Carolina. The listserver is a group e-mail service that
lets individuals interested in or already involved with PAYT
post questions to their peers, while the Web site provides a
host of information and resources available to potential and
existing PAYT communities. Furthermore, based on infor-
mation obtained during the course of the project, DPPEA
will develop an in-depth guidance document to assist other
communities that want to switch to PAYT and a document
that analyzes how PAYT affects communities in North and
South Carolina.
   For more information on DPPEA's project, contact James
Hickman at 919 715-6528 or .
You can also visit the Web site DPPEA developed at
.
 Free Resources

         On December 7, 2000, EPA's Climate and Waste Program—in partnership
         with several national solid waste and governmental organizations—broad-
         cast a nationwide satellite forum entitled Why Waste a. Cool Planet: MSW
 Solution for Global Climate Change. This interactive program was dedicated to help-
 ing educate businesses and state and local governments about the relationship
 between solid waste management and climate change. You can request a free video of
 the broadcast online at .
    You can also order a free copy of the video Pay-As-You-Throw: A New Trend in
 Solid Waste Management online at  or by calling the PAYT
 Helpline at 1-888-EPA-PAYT.
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