UK Conservative Party Gets Grouchy Over 'Pay-As-You-Throw'
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 08.24.07
A while back we brought news of a report that discussed the possibility of ‘pay-as-you-throw’ schemes being introduced in the UK. Essentially, ‘pay-as-you-throw’ is a term used for systems that charge households for trash collection according to the amount they throw out. Such schemes are already in place in a number of other European countries, where recycling rates have increased considerably as a result. The logic of charging wasteful households more than thrifty ones makes sense on paper at lease, but would the public support such a move? If the results of a recently published survey are anything to go by, then it appears they would. Apparently as many as two-thirds of Britain’s households would be in favour of wasteful households being charged more, while less wasteful ones would be offered a council tax rebate. The Conservative Party, the main parliamentary opposition, are not convinced however that such schemes would lead to lower taxation. This from the Guardian:
“…the shadow communities secretary, Eric Pickles, said: "Under the government's plans for bin taxes there will be no reduction in council tax. The overall burden of taxation will rise so householders will pay more. Labour ministers have already been warned that bin taxes will lead to a huge increase in fly-tipping and backyard burning. The government's half-baked plans wouldn't add up to a green measure - they are simply another stealth tax."
Environmental groups, such as Friends of the Earth, disagree, pointing to the successful schemes in Europe as an example of what can be done. However, they cautioned that such moves would only be successful if households had access to well organized recycling schemes, including weekly food collection. For those wanting to do more to reduce their waste, check out our guide on How to Green Your Recycling. ::The Guardian:: via site visit::
San Francisco has a pay as you throw program, and it's supposed to have been a success. These programs don't charge for the pickup of recyclables and also sometimes involve separating organics, so households are more likely to compost and recycle to save money. The downsides of PAYT systems are illegal dumping, and that it's a regressive tax. Still, you'd think libertarians would like it, as it's making a government program pay for itself (more than usual, anyway).
This isn't a huge new thing -- rural America has had this for years. Here in Vermont, I go to my town transfer station, pay $2.85 for each bag of trash I throw, but I pay $15 for an annual recycling permit and can recycle anything I can. Because of the added cost of throwing vs recycling, we're recycling all that we can. It just makes sense!
The same principle can be easily transferred to curbside; in many communities it's already being done because you have to put your trash in certain bags and those act as your trash ticket to PAYT.
We have Pay As You Throw here in Austin. No one seems to mind. It's a great incentive to recycle and if you need to throw out extra trash you can just get an extra trash sticker from the grocery store for $2 and slap it on your bag. We have bulky trash pickup twice a year.
I think it actually leads to less dumping. People save up for the bulky trash pickups, and the pickups actually lead to a lot of recycling because a lot of people drive around the neighborhoods that are having bulky trash pickup and take the stuff to fix up.
Plus lawn refuse gets recycled for free so that's taking an enormous amount of biodegradable trash out of trash cans and putting it at the curb.
I think it makes sense to charge for the specific bags being picked up. I don't know that it will necessarily encourage less waste, but the charge could be used for environmentally friendly usages, such as looknig into for efficient disposal measures, or creating more available recycling sites in the community