United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5306W)
EPA530-N-99-008
Fall 1999
www.epa.gov/payt
?,EPA
A Listing of Pay-As-You-Throw News and Events
B U
I N
The Increasing Global
Trend Toward PAYT
round the world, participation in PAYT has increased. Municipal solid waste (MSW)
^^ managers are focusing on both the environmental and economic sustainability of their
f*^. MSW programs. Currently, PAYT is being considered by larger U.S. cities from coast
to coast. The lead article discusses this big city trend and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) assistance available to them.
The popularity of PAYT is not just an American phenomenon. In countries as diverse
as China, Israel, and Brazil, interest in PAYT is gaining momentum. Beginning on page 2 of
this Bulletin, we detail a PAYT program of one of our northern neighbors and also glance at a
program from "down under."
Big Cities Explore PAYT
PAYT encourages waste prevention and recycling, which in turn leads
to increased global climate change benefits (see "Climate Change, PAYT,
and You" in the summer 1999 issue). Communities with large popula-
tions can contribute significantly to the reduction.of.greennQuse gas
emissions by instituting a PAYT program. Large cities, however, often
face complex challenges when designing and implementing a PAYT
program, from accommodating multi-family buildings to educating non-
English speakers to financing the program without straining overbur-
dened city services. To help large cities address these concerns, EPA
recendy cosponsored a workshop with the International City/County
Management Association (ICMA).
Ten cities attended the hands-on workshop held in May in Chicago, Illinois, including
New York City, New York; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Ann Arbor, Michigan; New Orleans,
Louisiana; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Miami Beach, Florida. The workshop began with a pre-
sentation of the key issues and steps involved in implementing a successful PAYT program by
PAYT technical experts from Seatde, Washington; San Jose, California; and Austin, Texas.
Later in the workshop, participants were given the option of attending an in-depth session on
how to set PAYT rates. Attendees found the workshop to be informative and helpful. "Talking
with representatives from other PAYT cities was helpful in gaining insight into the logistics
Continued on Page 2
Printed on paper that contains at least 30 percent postconsumer fiber.
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and potential barriers of implementing a PAYT program,"
said Lisa Maack, a program manager with the City of
New Orleans Department of Sanitation.
To maintain the momentum gained at the Chicago
workshop, ICMA is providing followup technical assis-
tance to big cities serious about implementing a PAYT
program. Of the cities in attendance, three are beginning
work to implement PAYT programs. Officials from one
of these cities, New Orleans, Louisiana, believe PAYT is
the key to improving their curbside recycling program.
Even though New Orleans' curbside recycling program
enjoys a 50 percent participation rate, city officials would
like to see the program increase its recycling tonnage rate
and economic viability. The approximately 150,000
households in the program currently pay for garbage and
recycling services through a flat fee on their monthly
water bill. The mayor of the city is interested in learning
more about how PAYT would work in New Orleans,
including addressing concerns about illegal dumping. To
explore both PAYT and improvements to the curbside
recycling program, the city set up a task force comprised
of community groups. As part of the technical assistance
provided by ICMA, the task force and city council will
receive onc-on-one guidance about PAYT tailored to the
city's specific needs.
As New Orleans progresses in its efforts to bring PAYT
to the city, EPA will follow the process to garner tips and
solutions for the benefit of other big cities. Stay tuned!
Crossing Borders—
PAYT Success in Canada
hile PAYT programs continue to gain
momentum in the United States, our northern
neighbors also have started reaping the program's
environmental and economic benefits, spreading the unit-
pricing word from Quebec to British Columbia. One
Sf. Albert promotes PAYT
community in particular, St. Albert, Alberta, has a well-
established, successful "user pay" waste collection pro-
gram. St. Albert's experience in designing, implementing,
and maintaining their program offers a glimpse of PAYT
on the international stage, revealing unique regional fea-
tures as well as the challenges and rewards familiar to any
PAYT community.
,r?n\iiL _
Alberta
Population:
Start date:
- -"
50,000
July 199
Resting on the banks of the Sturgeon River and bor-
dering the sprawling metropolis of Edmonton, Alberta,
St. Albert was the first city in western Canada to imple-
ment a full PAYT system. While many communities face
the challenge of gaining residents' support for a unit-
pricing system, St. Albert's residents provided the impetus
for the change, with 64 percent voicing support for a
PAYT system before it was even implemented. Under
their previous system, residents began to cite the inequity
of a situation where someone who sets out 1 can of refuse
pays as much as someone who sets out 10 cans.
Capitalizing on this enthusiasm for reform, the city
experimented with two pilot programs designed to assess
public satisfaction with different containers and collection
systems. St. Albert modeled its program on several differ-
ent cities, including Victoria, British Columbia, and;
Seattle, Washington; program developers also relied on
-EPA's-rate.structure tools and materials during this devel-,
opment stage. Based on the success of these two pilots—
residents disposed of 20 percent less waste and diverted
10 times more yard trimmings—St. Albert moved all
waste management costs (including collection and trans-
portation) from the tax base to the utility bill and fully
implemented a PAYT program.
Aside from waste reduction potential, the city gleaned
other important feedback from the pilot projects, learning
that while half of the residents preferred bags, the other
half wanted to use cans. To accommodate these prefer-
ences, St. Albert set up a bag and can program, allowing
residents to choose their preferred containers. Whether
choosing bags or cans, all residents select from three
subscription volumes: one, two, or three cans (or bag
equivalents) and paying the corresponding rate on their
utility bills. If they exceed their limit, they must buy a
$1.50 sticker for every additional bag or can they set out.
2 PAYT Bulletin
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Although most of St. Albert s residents welcomed the
PAYT program, a change is still a change, and the city
faced the familiar challenge of publicizing and promoting
its new system. ____
Outreach brochures
and pamphlets were
dispersed, but City
Engineer Dwayne
Kalynchuk describes
the city's most effec-
tive educational
device as unusually
entertaining. "We
had a local children's
theater group per-
form a skit, set to rap
music, about the
its benefits. They
even used garbage
cans as instruments,
touring schools and
malls and generating a lot of pub-
lic and media interest. It was real-
ly something different, a neat way
to capture everyone's attention."
Clearly, these innovative outreach strategies paid off. In
the 3 years since St. Alberts PAYT program took off, the
city's overall garbage disposal rate has dropped by more
than 40 percent, already nearing the 50 percent reduction
goal by 2000 set by the Canadian Council of Ministers of
the Environment (CCME). The program also has been
voted the Outstanding Municipal Program by the
Recycling Council of Alberta and has been featured in
numerous publications.
"With its impressive achievements, it's hard to imagine
that St. Albert faced many obstacles in its PAYT imple-
mentation, but in actuality, Kalynchuk noted that one of
the program's prob-
lems was, in fact, its
overwhelming success.
"The program created
such a reduction in
waste that its revenues
fell short in the first
year and we had trou-
ble covering the cost
of collection. We had
to raise fees and that
was not well received.
It's really important to
be conservative on
rate estimates, making
careful predictions of
your diversion rates."
Kalynchuk also
Children's theatre keeps the beat and spreads
the word about St. Albert's PAYT program.
mentioned that chal-
lenges continue to arise in the
maintenance of the program. "A
continuing education program
would help reinforce the messages and methods that our
initial outreach efforts emphasized. In addition, consistent
enforcement of program collection rules is essential to
keeping all residents in step with the system."
For more information on St. Albert's PAYT program,
contact Dwayne Kalynchuk at 780 459-1653 or
. ^
PAYT Down Under
In other international PAYT news, the Hunter Waste
Planning and Management Board of New South Wales,
Australia, recently released two research reports recommend-
ing the institution of a variable rate system. The first report
focuses on investigating and reviewing existing PAYT
programs and assesses the different pricing systems. The
second report covers implementation strategies that could
be employed for each of the pricing systems. The Board has
begun discussing the variable rate system with elected
officials, and implementation will begin thereafter. For more
information on PAYT in Australia, contact Tony Cade,
general manager of New South Wales Waste Boards, at
.
PAYT Bulletin 3
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PAYT Continues to Grow
Approximately 4,030 communities currently employ
unit-based pricing, according to die latest report from
Duke University. This represents a 16 percent increase in
the number of PAYT communities since Duke began
reporting this information in 1997. Duke gathers this
data by contacting municipal, county, and state-level solid
waste and recycling administrators, as well as private
haulers. For a complete list of these communities, log on
to the PAYT Web site at .
Check It Out
The EPA PAYT Web site
keeps getting bigger and
better. Just added to the site
are two clips from the new
PAYT video, Pay-As-You-
Throw: A New Trend in
Sustainable Solid Waste
Management. They can be viewed at
using either AVI
or RealPlayer. After viewing the clips, use the online
video order form on die same page to obtain your copy
of the video.
Another new addition to the PAYT site is die events
page. Once a part of this Bulletin, descriptions of upcom-
ing PAYT lectures, workshops, and other events from
across the United States can now be found at
. Visit this page
often as it is updated periodically.
Attention Coble
Directors!
Do your community a great service and broadcast the
PAYT video, Pay-As-You-Throw: A New Trend in
Sustainable Solid Waste Management on your local cable
station. The first part of the video provides a general
introduction to PAYT for residents and others who may
be unfamiliar with this type of program. The second part
provides more detailed information on key design and
operational issues surrounding PAYT.
Obtaining and showing this video is very easy. EPA
~ has established a Jending library for community access
and municipal stations. If you are interested in airing part
or all of this video on your
channel, EPA will loan you a
copy of the tape in the for-
mat of your choice for you
to dub and play as often as
you like. There is no charge
to participate, except the
cost of tape stock! To
obtain an order form
and/or more Information,
call the PAYT Helpline
at 888 EPA-PAYT.
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