Is Way to Go Pay to Throw?
Seacoastonline.com profiles the recycling efforts of several New Hampshire towns and how the state is looking to improve upon its 20.6 percent recycling with more programs like pay-as-you-throw (PAYT).
It costs $75 per ton to dispose of solid waste, and it is estimated that budgets can save $1 million for every one percent increase in recycling. Currently 46 New Hampshire towns have implemented a PAYT program, where residents pay $1.50 per bag to dispose of solid waste and considerably less to recycle.
New England has reduced its landfills from 500 to nine, and several towns have implemented mandatory recycling in the past few years. For more information on PAYT programs, visit Earth 911′s About Curbside Recycling page.
As of June 17th 2011 we have upgraded our comment system to use Facebook comments. The below comments are closed and are listed for historical purposes.
elwood989
posted on January 14th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
PAY AS YOU THROW IS THE WRONG , WORST, STUPID WAY TO GO!
REDUCE, REUSE & RECYCLE IS THE RIGHT WAY TO GO.
Recycling fees are the single most corrosive eliment in any recycling program. PAYT defeats all three of the recycling axioms. Recycling may be likened to a three leggard stool with reduce, reuse & recycle as the leggs. PAYT cuts of all three legs and gurantees the recycling programs failure. Recycling fees give rise to a forth recycling axiom, if you cant throw it away hide it! Put it in a black plastic contractors bag and fling it into the compactor. Too big? Chop it up, cut it up, smash it up or disassemble it, then put it in a black plastic contractors bag and fling it intp the compactor.
The best and most effective opportunity to reuse, open to individules, is the town swap shack located at a towns recycling or transfer station. Some towns begrudgingly maintain a swap shack but take every opportunity to discourage its use. The sign on the door usually reads ” Dont Leave Anything”. It used to mitigate this outrageous command with ‘See Attendant”. Why? Because residents will misuse the swap shack to circumvent the recycling fees and drop off everything that has a fee attached to it. Surprise we have dishounest residents in our population. So lets punish everyone for the acts of a few by imposing recycling fees. recycling or transfer station.
Trash is an asset not a liability. Trash = Profit, It’s raw material for re-manufacturing new products. Towns
should learn to make a profit from their pile of trash. Instead we pay some vendor to truck it away at $75 per ton. The vendors then take it to a (MRF) Mterial Recovery Facility where it is sorted and recycled for profit. If the towns shared in this profit it would be unnessary to PAY AS YOU THROW.
Elwood989