United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5306W)
EPA530-N-01-003
Summer 2001
www.epa.gov/payt
vvEPA
A Listing of Pay-As-You-Throw News and Events
: I
BULLETIN
in Francisco ... j
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?ilpn \s776J33 people |
t(2pOb censys)T J
I In...1999f:,Sqn Francisco j
tdeposed of 780,000 |
'tons of waste. 1
sjhe sarne year, the city J
?;refcbyereci 568JbOb tons J
•of materials.
San jFrqncisco's recy-
>;cling rate is 42 percent.
': {California has a 50
i percent waste diversion
Bigger, Older, Wiser:
San Francisco Makes a Good Thing Even Better
ore than 5,000 cities across the U.S. have a PAYT program in place to make garbage
collection more equitable and efficient, and many of these are mid- to large-size
cities. But the city of San Francisco is a leader to them all, having had a PAYT pro-
gram in place longer than most cities have had a recycling program. The city's PAYT pro-
gram, which started in the early 1900s, is one of the oldest PAYT programs in the country.
With years of experience, San Francisco has found out how to make the most of its waste
management program. The city's new "Fantastic Three" program, which separates discarded
materials by type at the curbside into three 32-gallon containers, is the city's latest step in
improving its waste and recyclables collection program across the board. In this program,
commingled recyclables are collected in a blue container, food scraps and yard trimmings in a
green container, and regular garbage in a black container. A year-long pilot project conducted
in one area of the city proved so successful that the city now plans to convert two-thirds of
the city's residences to this program.
The innovative Fantastic Three program is the first program in the U.S. to collect food
scraps at the curbside for composting. Other California cities, including San Jose, are using
the Fantastic Three model to improve their own collection programs, said Lisa Schiller with
the city of San Francisco's Solid Waste Management Program.
Schiller added that collecting commingled recyclables is a feature of the Fantastic Three
^^Pa^&atJSaayjjth^^ toward. Commingled collection "makes recycling
easy for residents,"^ScEIIIeTlliarThe^recyclables are sorted at the materials recovery facil-
ity by the hauler. ^^^*
In the pilot project, the use of the three sejarate containers
reduces litter because the containers are lidded| Iftalsc^eters^Iegal
scavenging—since the recyclables are comminglld, it is'harder for scavengers to
abscond with the more valuable recyclables, Schiller said.
San Francisco also recently approved new waste and recyclak
posed by the city's private waste haul
rates, residents who use the 32-g;
about $14.83 per
increase from the
fcollection rates pro-
Under the new
3n can will be charged
L for waste collection, an
Previous rate of $11.68.
(continued on page 2)
Printed on paper that contains at least 50 percent postconsumer fiber.
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Continued from page 1
As an incen-
tive to recycle
more and dis-
pose of less
materials, resi-
dents can use a
20-gallon can, and those
who do will be charged 77
percent of the 32-gallon con-
tainer rate, or approximately
$11.42 per month. Approximately 8 percent of city resi-
dents use the 20-gallon container exclusively right now,
and the city anticipates that figure to increase to 17.5 per-
cent of residents within the next 5 years, according to
Schiller. The program allows flexibility for higher waste
generators—residents can purchase an additional 32-gal-
lon container, for an additional $14.80 per month, if one
container does not suffice.
Another change to die city's PAYT program has been
the addition of all apartment buildings, so now all
325,000 residences in the city have access to a PAYT col-
lection program. Apartment buildings in San Francisco
are not required to recycle, but putting a PAYT program
in place should encourage apartment building managers
to promote recycling because it will save them money on
their waste collection bills.
Two private waste haulers, Sunset Scavenger and
Golden Gate Disposal, both subsidiaries of Norcal Waste
Disposal, collect all the commercial and residential waste
and recyclables generated in the city. The haulers are
responsible for making sure that the recycling containers
are not contaminated with waste materials and educating
residents about which materials are recyclable.
For more information, contact Lisa Schiller with San
Francisco's Solid Waste Management Program, at 415
554-3437.
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Recycling Is all About
Attitude
Communities with PAYT programs typically have
higher recycling participation rates, and their resi-
dents have a better attitude toward recycling,
according to a recent survey. The Massachusetts
Department of Environmental Protection surveyed 750
state residents and found that recycling participation in
PAYT communities exceeds the statewide average by a
noticeable margin. Seventy percent of PAYT households
say that they are "doing all they can" to recycle, compared
with 50 percent of households statewide that do not have
L,;PAYT programs. Furthermore, only 14 percent of resi-
: dents in PAYT communities are not recycling, compared
with 27 percent statewide.
Not surprisingly, residents in PAYT communities
report that recycling is easy and more convenient, and
these residents are less likely to need reminders to recycle
" "than respondents from non-PAYT communities in the
_ state. In addition, residents in PAYT communities are sig-
nificantly moreTikely to say that their household is com-
mitted to recycling (82 percent), compared with residents
in Dther Massachusetts communities (64 percent).
Recycling rates for specific materials—from newspa-
perrcorrugated'cardboard, and paperboard to plastic,
glass, and metal containers—are noticeably higher in
PAW communities than in" areas that do not have a
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PAYT program. The difference in recycling rates is most
noticeable for paper products, with residents in PAYT
Communities recycling much more paper products than
their non-PAYT counterparts.
, ™_Ahhough the report finds that about half of
Ethe"state's households recycle all diat they can,
there is room for improvement: one out of four
residents do not participate in the state's recycling
"effort, and one-half of residents do not regularly
;i riefiycle paperboard, mixed paper, or corrugated
cardTwardr Demographics plays a strong role
in shaping residents' recycling behavior—the
state's most dedicated recyclers are residents age
65 or older who have lived in their communities
for more than 10 years. In addition, the southeast
region of the state reports a noticeably lower
level of participation in recycling pro-
grams than other regions.
The report, Massachusetts DEP
Recycling Participation Study, is
available online at
.
2 PAYT Bulletin
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Austin Becomes Fully
Automated
ustia, Texas, one of several larger cities that has
set up a successful PAYT program, recently
ims.de some changes to make its solid waste
management system even better. Automation and fee
incentives are enhancing the efficiency and cost-
effectiveness of the program.
The city is switching from a semi-automated sys-
tem to a fully automated system, which allows for
one-person crews. The new method of collection will
be more cost-efficient, and 40 percent of Austins resi-
dents have been converted to the new system, with
complete implementation expected by fall 2002.
The city educates residents on how to set out their
carts so the automated loaders can handle them with-
out problems. Under the PAYT program, residents
have the choice of using 30-, 60-, or 90-gallon carts,
each with a different rate. Smaller fees are charged for
a second cart. In another program change, extra
garbage that will not fit into a cart can now be placed
in a bag affixed with a $2 garbage sticker. Previously,
haulers did not collect garbage left in bags without
stickers. Now,
bags without
proper stick-
ers are still
collected by
hand by the
hauler, but
residents are
charged $4 per
untagged bag.
There's no question that Austin's diversion rates
are increasing. Between October 1999 and September
2000, the city kept close to 28.5 percent of its resi-
dential garbage from disposal, compared with a 9.8
percent diversion rate in 1991, the year the PAYT
program began.
For more information on Austin's program, con-
tact Vidal Maldonado of the city of Austin at 512
462-4312 or vidal.maldonado@ci.austin.tx.us.
Educational information and resources for Austin's
citizens also are available at the city's Web site:
.
Source Reduction Pays Off
in PAYT Programs
bile it has been know for some time that PAYT pro-
i grams help promote source reduction, the extent of
_j that impact has been hard to measure. A new study
provides encouraging evidence that this impact can be meas-
ured and that it is significant.
The study concludes that PAYT programs reduce landfill
disposal by 16 to 17 percent annually, with approximately 6
percent attributable to source reduction.
According to EPA's standard hierarchy, source reduction is
the preferred method of solid waste management. Source
reduction has been more difficult to measure than other waste
diversion methods because of the challenges involved in
measuring the amount of waste people aren't generating.
Skumatz Economic Research Associates, Inc. (SERA) conduct-
ed a study that looks at ways to overcome these challenges.
"Our firm already has a lot of experience measuring
things—such as energy conservation—that 'didn't happen,'"
said Dr. Lisa Skumatz, principal of SERA. "We therefore had
a good idea what the best approaches would be." '
A recent SERA study estimated that PAYT programs are
available in more than 5,000 U.S. communities, so results
from the source reduction study would have immediate, far-
reaching implications.
Based on the assumption that recycling, composting, and
source reduction are the three primary waste diversion routes,
SERA used two methods to conduct its research. The first
method, a cross-section analysis, tappedjnto SERA's database
on waste management in more than 1,000 U.S. communities
to evaluate PAYT impacts at a single point in time. The results
show that average waste generation rates in PAYT communi-
ties are 16.1 percent lower than in non-PAYT communities.
The second method, a time-series analysis, applied statisti-
cal techniques to data on waste generation from I960 to 1998
to forecast waste disposal behavior. After controlling for
demographics, this method shows that waste generation per
person would have been 17.3 percent higher without PAYT.
Subtracting results from similar recycling and composting
equations, this method concludes that source reduction
accounts for 5.8 percent of the waste decreased by PAYT.
Because the two different methods generated similar results,
the study shows that these are reliable techniques for measur-
ing the impact of PAYT on source reduction.
For a copy of the SERA report, Measuring Source
Reduction: PAYT/Variable Rates as an Example, contact Dr.
Lisa Skumatz of SERA at 303 494-1178 or visit SERA online
at .
PAYT Bulletin 3
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Videoconference Promotes
PAYT in Pennsylvania
ore than 100 recycling professionals participated in
i Pennsylvania's PAYT videoconference featured in Lisa
«™,T_ Iskumatz of Skumatz Economic Research Associates and
local experts from three Pennsylvania municipalities who shared
their experiences with PAYT in a facilitated panel discussion.
Simultaneously broadcast on the Web by GreenWorks.TV, viewers
in at least six other states accessed the videoconference.
Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) and the Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania
(PROP), the videoconference introduced resources available to local
governments and the waste industry for developing PAYT pro-
grams. The Pennsylvania DEP and PROP hosted the videoconfer-
ence to boost the number of PAYT programs in the state, with the
goal of helping Pennsylvania increase the state recycling rate from
32,6 percent to 35 percent.
"We have promoted PAYT as a way to make the cost of dispos-
ing waste more apparent, therefore, making some of the other alter-
natives such as recycling and composting, more desirable," said
Greg Harder of the Pennsylvania DEP. "The number of PAYT pro-
grams in Pennsylvania has increased from 125 to 211 in the past
year."
The videoconference can be viewed at or a videotape is available -^=-
from PROP at 800 769-PROP. For more
information about Pennsylvania's PAYT
programs, contact Greg Harder of the
Pennsylvania DEP at 717 787-7382 '
or gharder@state.pa.us, or access
the DEP Web site at
(directLINK
"pay as you throw").
PAYT: An Economic
Incentive for
Reducing Pollution
I n a newly released report, EPA evaluates the
effect of PAYT programs and other incentive
_J programs on reducing pollution. The report
assesses hundreds of economic incentives for
reducing environmental pollution. PAYT is dis-
cussed as one of the many financial incentives
that are supplementing traditional regulatory
approaches.
The document reviews the different
forms of variable-rate pricing and pro-
vides a description of several vari-
able-rate structures by communi-
1 ty. It also lists studies of commu-
k nities where PAYT has been intro-
duced and provides general guide-
lines for introducing PAYT programs. The report
concludes diat, in many cases, economic incen-
tives such as PAYT result in greater benefits than
traditional regulations for reducing pollution.
A copy of the report, The United States
Experience with Economic Incentives for
Protecting the Environment, can be downloaded
by visiting the Web
site at and link-
ing to the report,
located on the right-
hand side of die page.
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