Presentation is loading. Please wait.

Presentation is loading. Please wait.

Pay As You Throw – An Incentive Based System Town of West Boylston, MA.

Similar presentations


Presentation on theme: "Pay As You Throw – An Incentive Based System Town of West Boylston, MA."— Presentation transcript:

1

2 Pay As You Throw – An Incentive Based System Town of West Boylston, MA

3 Overview DEP Grant What is PAYT?

4 Who Pays for Trash Disposal? We All Do! Although many people don’t know it, trash collection and disposal, is paid through local property taxes and cost a few hundred $ each household.

5 West Boylston trash and recycling #’s

6 What is Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT)?  PAYT is a waste reduction program  With PAYT, each household trash disposal cost is based on how much is thrown away  Households that recycle more and produce less trash pay less.  Similar in concept to paying for the heat, electricity, or a co-pay for medical insurance

7 How does it work?  Typically, households pay their taxes which covers the program’s fixed costs (collection costs).  Residents purchase the town’s PAYT plastic bags. These are sold for a nominal fee (usually $1- 2) at convenient community locations.  The price of these bags cover trash disposal costs.

8 PAYT Curbside Options  Basic service program- residents put out 1 bag, container for “free” paid in taxes- all others need to be in a PAYT bag  Basic service coupon program- residents receive a coupon to get their free bags at a local store and all bags on curb are PAYT bags.  All trash bags need to be in PAYT bags.  Recycling is free for all programs  As with all PAYT program- it is a Voluntary program

9 Curbside PAYT

10 Where in MA Has PAYT Worked?  In 124 Massachusetts municipalities  MA cities w/ curbside trash and recycling: Gardner, Worcester  MA suburbs w/ curbside trash and recycling: Lunenburg, Plainville, Boxford, Maynard, Northborough, Medway, Dighton  MA communities w/ drop-off trash and recycling programs  Many programs have 10+ years experience

11 PAYT is Working in Central Mass  Worcester Cut trash in Half  North Brookfield reduced their waste by 20 % and increase recycling by 4%  Lunenburg saved $100,000 in the first year  Ayer in the first few months saw a 53% waste reduction  Northborough experienced a 35% waste reduction in the first 3 months, which is a savings of $75,000

12 Why does PAYT work?  Economically Smart – Each household is responsible for its trash and has a financial incentive to recycle.  Equitable - Those who produce less waste pay less.  Environmentally Sustainable – Conserves natural resources, energy and disposal capacity.

13 Every Ton of paper we recycle saves:  17 Trees that are 20 years old  4,200 kwh of energy (enough to power the average home for 6 months)  7,000 gallons of water  664 quarts of oil  3 cubic yards of landfill space  84 lbs. of air pollutants  36 lbs. of water pollutants  176 lbs. of solid waste from raw wood production

14 What are the $ takes across the State? In both commercial and residential sectors: >1.5 million tons of paper/year is disposed each year 1 million tons of this can realistically be recovered At tip fees of $75/ton, Massachusetts could save $75M/year on disposal At $35/ton for Mixed Paper, Massachusetts could recover $35M/year in commodity value

15 PAYT Non PAYT

16 Non-PAYT vs. PAYT curbside communities Non PAYT PAYT

17 Solid Waste System Program CURRENT  Trash and Recycling Collection Costs- $243,000 Disposal Costs- $76 * 2118 tons= $160,968  Recycling Rate 23%  $404,000 on the tax base Pay As You Throw  Trash and Recycling Trash in PAYT bags Most program have a Waste Reduction of 30% = disposal costs  Recycling Rate could be 40%  $207,000 on the tax base

18 Recycling works in Mass  Adding over $600 million into the state’s economy each year  Employing over 19,000 people.  By recycling over 6 million tons each year, we prevented the need to construct 16 new incinerators or landfills.  The amount of materials recycled saves enough energy to power 140,000 homes each year  Reduces greenhouse gas emissions by almost 900,000 tons of carbon equivalent per year

19 Common Objections…  More illegal dumping? No. Experience in other towns proves the illegal dumping can be avoided WITH: Good education, Good recycling options, Good enforcement

20 Summary of the Pros and Cons of PAYT  Equitable way to fund trash and recycling services  Economically self- supporting; savings from reduced disposal costs more than cover the added overhead.  Effective incentive to reduce waste  Environmentally beneficial and sustainable program  Change is always a challenge.  Cost of bags/tags is a new expense  May be a hardship for some low- income residents  Fees not deductible from federal taxes

21 Jones Trash Bill - $200/yearSmith Trash Bill - $200/year If you consider this unfair You need to consider PAYT

22 Need more information?  Irene Congdon (Mass DEP Municipal Assistance Coordinator-Central Region) Tel: (978) 597-9191 Email: Irene_Congdon1@yahoo.com Or visit www.mass.gov/dep and www.epa.gov.www.mass.gov/dep www.epa.gov

23 What is in our trash?

24 Mass Waste Ban Law  Massachusetts Waste Ban Law: The Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) “waste ban” regulations at 310 CMR 19.017.  What is banned? Recyclable Paper: All paper, cardboard, and paperboard products, Containers: glass, metal, plastic bottles, leaves & yard waste, Lead-acid batteries, white goods, whole tires, cathode ray tubes: televisions, computer monitors.


Download ppt "Pay As You Throw – An Incentive Based System Town of West Boylston, MA."

Similar presentations


Ads by Google