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Scott, I., Neto, M. D. C., & Pinheiro, F. L. (2023). Bringing trust and transparency to the opaque world of waste management with blockchain: a Polkadot parathread application. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 182(August), 1-17. [109347]. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3825072, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2023.109347---The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) Portugal under the project: UIDB/0415s2/2020 - Centro de Investigação em Gestão de Informação (MagIC). The Project BEE2WasteCrypto (reference IDT-COP 45933) leading to this work is co-financed by the ERDF – European Regional Development Fund through the Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalisation COMPETE 2020, the Lisbon Portugal Regional Operational Program – LISBOA 2020 and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT under CMU Portugal Program. The majority of countries are currently struggling with unsustainable levels of waste production and low levels of recycling, particularly relating to household waste, and this area is in urgent need of new solutions. In general, the waste management sector has struggled with low consumer trust, fraud, manipulation, significant manual processes, and low levels of information and control. Recent events relating to the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted, in particular, the role of trust in effective public policy making and consumer behavioural change. Here we propose a hybrid blockchain solution called a Polkadot parachain. Polkadot is a blockchain technology that connects a network of blockchains, each called a parachain, that can be customised to the business needs of a given application. This solution provides the cost benefits, scalability, and control of a permissioned or private blockchain while providing the security, verifiability, and trust of a public blockchain. The solution is developed with a design science approach and combines three typically separate blockchain use cases: supply chain tracking, incentivisation through a payment system, and gamification to achieve a complete solution for waste management. We provide a detailed discussion on the design of this blockchain solution with the use of blockchain functionality assessed against the criteria and development approaches found in the literature. Finally, we demonstrate how such a blockchain can be implemented with the Substrate blockchain development framework. preprint publishersversion epub_ahead_of_print

The issue of municipal waste is regarded as one of the biggest environmental problems worldwide given its uncontrolled growth. Efficient waste management is an important step towards an energy and material sustainable society. This problem is particularly serious in insular regions due to logistic difficulties. As a result, municipalities need to find effective measures to balance their waste management systems as the inherent costs of the service are high and the charges applied are inefficient. One possible solution to achieve efficient waste management is the application of a Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) system, which considers the amount of waste produced by each agent, making her/him responsible for reducing waste production. Furthermore, increases in recycling rates decrease the need to obtain materials from virgin resources, which leads to lower energy consumption. Based on real data, we propose a reformulation of the old incentive mechanisms in Funchal, Portugal, replacing them by the application of a PAYT system to the non-domestic sector, namely to hotel enterprises. Our simulation results for a representative hotel shows that the PAYT system provides important tariff reductions, which can go from 47% to 70%, when unsorted waste decreases according to the goals set by the European Union of achieving a percentage of recyclable waste on total waste of 55% in 2025, 60% in 2030 and 65% in 2035. Hence, the system is a good incentive to the increase in sorted waste, contributing to a more sustainable waste management mechanism.

In this paper we examine the relative importance of an individual’s subjective evaluations and social capital on his/her decision to exercise social control (i.e. confront the offender) on the hypothetical instance of witnessing a PAYT (Pay-As-You-Throw) scheme violation. Our data (N = 299) originates from an online questionnaire filled in by residents of Greece in early summer 2016. Through logistic regression modeling, we find that the subjective evaluation of the offence and social capital components have independent and complementary effects on the decision to exercise social control, over and above the demographic characteristics of the respondent.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is still a significant environmental problem for all Balkan and Mediterranean countries, under constant pressure from relevant EU legislation and public. In general, waste management services in the Republic of North Macedonia do not comply with national and international regulations. They are incomplete and contain only inefficient waste collection and poorly controlled or uncontrolled landfill, with no additional elements of advanced waste management as defined in EU waste directives. The municipal solid waste management continues to be a significant challenge in all states of the European Community and is an important element in the transition to a circular economy. An important aspect of implementation of the circular economy assumptions in the case of MSW is a plan for reducing waste amounts deposited at landfills and enhancing the share of waste, which can be returned to the system as material and organic recycling. In the light of soon expected establishment of regional integrated and self-sustainable waste management system in the east and north-east planning regions of the Republic of North Macedonia, in order to increase awareness by the local population and hospitality enterprises for source separation schemes of organic waste, as the largest producers of organic waste, University Goce Delchev and Hellenic Mediterranean University together with Municipality of Katerini, Municipality of Yermasoyia, and Municipality of Probishtip launched a joint project co-founded by EU, “Utilizing Pay as You Throw Systems and Autonomous Composting Units for Biowaste Management in Touristic Areas.” PAYT system and ACUs as innovative technologies for biowaste management involve source separation schemes of organic waste. The aim of this paper is to present the transfer and application of innovative technologies Pay As You Throw (PAYT) system and Autonomous Composting Units (ACUs) for biowaste management in Municipality of Probishtip, thus reinforce the system of circular economy (CE) in the Republic of North Macedonia.

This study investigates the drivers of curbside recycling program adoption and Pay as You Throw (PAYT) program adoption in 1,856 US local governments using a 2015 survey. While 50% of municipalities and counties adopt curbside recycling programs, we find that the adoption of curbside recycling is limited by capacity constraints; local governments with lower per capita public expenditures and more poverty are less likely to implement curbside recycling. PAYT programs are less common overall (10% of municipalities) and less common in richer communities and more common in communities with higher education levels. Local official political affiliation is not significant in either model. Both programs are less likely in rural places. Our results point to the need for local governments adopting such innovations to address equity, capacity constraints, and efficiency concerns.

The chapter will describe the genealogy of the international social movement “Zero Waste (ZW)” and highlights its role of cultural, organizational, and scientific reference point for the waste management, in particular the public one in Italy. The chapter proposes to interpret ZW as a part of a wider social movement on “common goods” that in Italy proposed a radical critics of the neoliberal governance of local public services. The climax of this movement was the referendum of 2011, when 27 millions of Italian citizens voted against the privatization of waste, water, and transport management at an urban level. By door-to-door recycling, composting of community, pay as you throw system (PAYT), reuse centers, and environmental communication, ZW movement succeeded to create an apparatus of driver concepts for the management of waste. In particular, some of the proposed case studies were the actors that implemented the ZW strategy findings on the territory, experimenting new organizational and social practices aimed at increasing recycle and at converting the local economy into a circular one.

Highlights • A new pricing model for weight-based pay-as-you-throw systems is defined. • Waste fees are formulated by a linear function dependent of the service level. • The pricing model can support sorting and reduce residual waste generation. • The pricing model is an actionable tool for waste management operators. Municipal solid waste is associated with different systemic challenges, such as climate change, resource scarcity, and ocean plastic pollution. European countries are striving towards more circular material use and the European Commission has advocated the use of economic incentives to boost recycling. The pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) scheme is an economic instrument that applies the ‘polluter pays’ principle by charging for waste according to the actual amount of generated waste. Volume-based PAYT fees have shown to be potentially less effective in waste prevention and recycling than weight-based fees. This paper illustrates how waste management operators can price residual waste with weight-based fees that encourage recycling, are fair with respect to service levels, and cover the current income for municipal waste operators. The result, obtained by forming equations satisfying the above conditions, is a model with a linear, discrete price function, where the price of the residual waste generated by the citizen is a function of the service level. This model encourages efficient source separation through internal subsidies, wherein a citizen can decrease the price of household waste by 32% if they increase the sorting efficiency from a default of 40% to 80% efficiency. The application of the model was illustrated in a case example. The model developed in this study can be used to implement weight-based PAYT schemes locally, thereby supporting the formulation of waste management systems that facilitate waste reduction and recycling.

The majority of countries are currently struggling to achieve sustainable levels of recycling and waste treatment, particularly relating to household waste, and this area is in urgent need of new solutions. In general, the waste management sector has struggled with low consumer trust, fraud, manipulation, significant manual processes, and low levels of information and control. Here we propose a hybrid blockchain solution called a Polkadot parachain. Polkadot is a blockchain technology that allows for the development of a network of blockchains, each called a parachain that can be customised to the business needs of a given application. This solution provides the cost benefits, scalability, and control of a permissioned blockchain while providing the security, verifiability, and trust of a public blockchain. The solution combines three typically separate blockchain use cases: supply chain tracking, incentivisation through a payment system, and gamification to achieve a complete solution for waste management. We provide a detailed discussion on the design of this blockchain solution with the use of blockchain functionality assessed against the criteria and development approaches found in the literature. Finally, we demonstrate how such a blockchain can be implemented with the Substrate blockchain development framework and detail a pilot project where this system will be implemented.

We conduct separate randomized controlled trials of norm-based feedback nudges on house-hold waste in two municipalities in western Sweden. Our main treatment presents recipients with accurate, household-specific feedback highly similar to the standard Home Energy Report design, but with residual (unsorted) waste as the object of comparison. We also test a novel ‘dynamic’ norm design informed by psychological research. Post-experimental reductions are on the order of 7-12% in both municipalities, substantially larger than inmost previous studies. We estimate that the reduction corresponds to a 30-60% increase in unit-based waste fees. Effect differences between our main treatment and the dynamic-norm treatment are not significant. We find that feedback nudges are highly cost-effective compared to alternative means for reducing household residual waste. However, net social benefits depend on whether existing waste fees internalize the marginal social cost of residual waste. Our results have implications for the usefulness of feedback interventions as well as for unit-based pricing of waste, on which our feedback materials rely.

Household food waste has negative, and largely unnecessary, environmental, social and economic impacts. A better understanding of current household food waste disposal is needed to help develop and implement effective interventions to reduce food wasting. A four-season waste characterization study was undertaken with 200 single-family households across eight neighbourhoods in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The City of Toronto provides residents with a pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) waste program that includes a choice of four garbage cart sizes (Small [S], Medium [M], Large [L], Extra Large [XL]), with increasing annual user fees ($18.00&ndash, $411.00 CAD), as well as a green cart (organic waste) and blue cart (recycling). On average, each household disposed 4.22 kg/week of total food waste, 69.90% of which was disposed in the green cart, and disposal increased significantly (p = 0.03) by garbage cart size to L but not XL garbage carts. Of this total, 61.78% consisted of avoidable food waste, annually valued at $630.00&ndash, $847.00 CAD/household. Toronto&rsquo, s PAYT waste program has been effective at diverting food waste into the green cart but not at reducing its generation. Higher median incomes were positively correlated, while higher neighbourhood dwelling and population density were negatively correlated, with total and avoidable food waste disposal. Regression analyses explained 40&ndash, 67% of the variance in total avoidable food waste disposal. Higher supermarket density and distance to healthier food outlets were associated with more, while dwelling density was related to less, total and avoidable food waste disposal. Distance to fast food restaurants and less healthy food outlet density were both negatively associated with avoidable food waste disposal in the garbage and green cart, respectively. Avoidable food waste reduction interventions could include increasing garbage cart fees, weight-based PAYT, or messaging to households on the monetary value of avoidable food waste, and working with food retailers to improve how households shop for their food.

Municipalities have been facing problems to keep the management of their municipal solid waste (MSW) in financial balance. Increasing public awareness, stricter legislation and large generation of MSW have led to high costs concerning related services. Therefore cities are starting to charge their citizens for the services provision and methods utilized vary significantly. They can range from a flat rate to the so named "pay as you throw" (PAYT), a proportional system in which the total amount varies according to the waste generated individually. In a scenario of little information regarding charging systems, this research consulted academic material, official websites and documents of the studied countries, as well as national legislation, in order to learn how countries with different characteristics charge their citizens for MSW management. It was observed a great variation in charging systems and prices: usually the more developed a country is, the more sophisticated it is in terms of charging schemes. Developed countries are ahead in terms of not only charging systems' existence but also their type, with a larger PAYT presence throughout their territories. Developing countries on the other hand still do not charge and/or are struggling to universalize the charging, since most municipalities still finance the service through general taxes. When utilized, the charging method usually chosen is the flat rate, for its simplicity of calculation and understanding. For improvements in charging systems it is necessary not only the presence of a legal framework, but most importantly a greater maturity regarding SW management.

Following on the reiterated claim that accounting inscriptions make action at a distance possible, we draw on post-mathematical topology to explain that this distance work is dependent on inscriptions acting on distances. By adopting a relational understanding of space, we show that accounting inscriptions by themselves create the distances across which they operate. Our case study uses pay-as-you-throw solid waste-collection invoices in a new waste-collection program aimed at increasing the sustainability of waste management. By displaying weight and cost side by side, these invoices conduct topological operations that dissolve, create, and redefine the distance between people and their waste, between the economy and the environment, and between the city and its residents. The ability of these operations to mobilize a sense of environmental responsibility, enroll residents in the city's plans for sustainability, and translate political ambitions into individual behavior demonstrates that the performativity of accounting inscriptions resides in the efficacy of their distance work.

The generation of municipal solid waste is a problem for societies aspiring to sustainability within their municipalities. Policymakers responsible for this issue apply formulas to fund solid waste management by charging taxes or fees. The formulas differ in that some link charges to the event or to the producer of the waste rather than to the environmental‘polluter pays principle’. Among the range of options for funding this service, the literature identifies “pay as you throw” (PAYT), as the method that most directly relates user charges to contributions to environmental sustainability. This study begins by exploring the types of charges in effect in 52 Spanish provincial capitals and, where applicable, the variables to which they are related. Next, it conducts a case study of the city of Madrid, whose solid waste charge, in force from 2009 to 2014, was based on property values. The case study aims to confirm the relationship—over time—between waste generated (total and per property), number of properties (place where the waste was generated) and properties' rateable value. The results reveal, first, that the most widely-used solution at local government level is the easiest to apply—namely, a flat rate per household or a step-variable flat rate covering on average 59.03% of the cost (in 2012); and, second, that Madrid's waste step-flat rate cannot be considered a PAYT system, despite it covers up to 70% of the cost (in 2012).

This article focuses on quantitative prevention of municipal solid waste among the 28 member countries of the European Union. A strict definition of waste prevention is used, including waste avoidance, waste reduction at source or in process, and product reuse, while recycling is outside the scope of this article. In order to provide a solid overview of the European situation, the study selected six countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain). Several selection requirements have been considered, such as geographic location or municipal solid waste per capita production trends from 1995 to 2017. A review of prevention programmes and other national strategic documents has been conducted. Extended producer responsibility, Pay-As-You-Throw schemes, Deposit-Refund Systems and Environmental Taxes implementation among the selected countries have been studied in order to understand how these market-based instruments can be used for the sake of waste prevention. Each market-based instrument has been further analysed using the Drivers Pressures State Impact Response model. Based on the results of this study, the effectiveness of market-based instruments implementation is strictly related to the context they are enforced in. It is particularly important to tailor the market-based instruments based on the implementation area. Nevertheless, market-based instruments, which are now mostly meant to boost the recycling sector of the considered Member States, should be designed to improve waste prevention performances, ensuring the achievement of the highest level of waste hierarchy promoted by the European Union.

Solid waste management is one of the most important functions performed by Italian municipalities and is mostly financed through local property taxes. Alternative financing schemes, known as ‘pay-as-you throw’ (PAYT), are designed to price each additional unit of waste and are becoming increasingly frequent at international level. Their advantages in terms of efficiency and equity, as well as of care for the environment, have been investigated both theoretically and empirically. This paper estimates the impact of PAYT schemes on the amount of waste produced and on the costs of its disposal for Italian municipalities. Results show that PAYT schemes deeply affect user behavior: total waste decreases (unsorted waste almost halves). Overall, the costs incurred by municipalities adopting PAYT fall by roughly 10 to 20 per cent in per capita terms, reflecting a reduction of one third in the cost of managing undifferentiated waste.

The development of pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) systems – one of the strategies behind smart waste concepts – has a large set of challenges from the information technology (IT) point of view. The diversity of existing charging models in different towns already poses a complexity problem for a single universal IT solution. The situation is even more complex as the diversity of pay-as-you-throw systems is very large, with different tariffs and different objectives. This paper describes the development of an information system for supporting multiple approaches for PAYT systems and describes its implementation in the context of a European project. The design strategy and the use of best practices lead to a scalable and effective PAYT- specific Information System that has proved itself able to support a diversity of requirements across south Europe. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Biodegradable waste constitutes the largest single fraction of municipal solid waste and is subject to specific targets in European Union member states. The present study examines the potential of waste taxes to reduce household disposal of biodegradable waste and encourage substitution into composting. With a view to examining the wider potential effects of the tax, the study also tests labelling effects and possible unintended consequences, namely the potential to stimulate illegal waste disposal. Data is drawn from a nationally representative whole country survey (n = 1037), in which respondents were randomly assigned to different tax treatments. The study finds that in the absence of a tax, composting uptake is mainly predicted by access to a garden or rural land and perceptions of nuisance. The introduction of a nominal fee for waste disposal significantly reduces waste disposal intent and encourages substitution into home-composting. Substitution responds to both higher fees as well as to a “Pay as You Throw Tax” tax label, particularly among garden owners. However, the introduction of a waste disposal fee also induces illegal waste disposal intent, particularly among households that hold government in low trust. These findings, which are robust to several model specifications, are relevant both to science and to policy makers.

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generation and management concern many cities. Several implications, mainly resource-consumption, socio-economic and environmental-sustainability, arise. Concurrently, financial-budgetary constraints in some local governments provoke allegations of “misuse” of Waste-collection-treatment-disposal charges and suggestions that they are used mainly to balance budgets. The paper first examines traditional forms of levying charges for Waste-collection-treatment-disposal under the coverage of the Polluter-Pays-Principle in OECD countries and Spanish provincial capitals, finding a prevalence of flat fee systems in Spain. Regarding Madrid specifically, the paper analyses the relationship between its Waste-collection-treatment-disposal charges and some possibly (in-)dependent variables. Relationships between MSW generated and some potentially-linked variables are identified. Analysis rejects that Madrid waste generation-treatment-disposal charges based on dwelling values had a positive relationship with waste generated (more value of the properties in a district does not imply more waste generated), and reveals/-confirms other significant correlations between some variables, it being remarkable that neither age, gender, nationality nor education were found relevant. Conclusions – such as the soundness of the suggested use of the number of dwellings per district as a suitable indicator for the level of waste generated (and its required funding) and the inexistence of a conventional Pay As You Throw system in Madrid – are offered with some policy implications-considerations.

Economic development, urbanization, and improved living standards increase the quantity and complexity of generated solid waste. Comprehensive study of the variables influencing household solid waste production and recycling rate is crucial and fundamental for exploring the generation mechanism and forecasting future dynamics of household solid waste. The present study is employed in the case study of Prespa Park. A model, based on the interrelationships of economic, demographic, housing structure and waste management policy variables influencing the rate of solid waste generation and recycling is developed and employed. The empirical analysis is based on the information derived from a field questionnaire survey conducted in Prespa Park villages for the year 2014. Another feature of this study is to test whether a household's waste generation can be decoupled from its population growth. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlation analysis and F-tests are used to know the relationship between variables. One-way and two-way fixed effects models data analysis techniques are used to identify variables that determine the effectiveness of waste generation and recycling at household level in the study area. The results reveal that households with heterogeneous characteristics, such as education level, mean building age and income, present different challenges of waste reduction goals. Numerically, an increase of 1% in education level of population corresponds to a waste reduction of 3kg on the annual per capita basis. A village with older buildings, in the case of one year older of the median building age, corresponds to a waste generation increase of 12kg. Other economic and policy incentives such as the mean household income, pay-as-you-throw, percentage of population with access to curbside recycling, the number of drop-off recycling facilities available per 1000 persons and cumulative expenditures on recycling education per capita are also found to be effective measures in waste reduction. The mean expenditure for recycling education spent on a person for years 2010 and 2014 is 12 and 14 cents, respectively and it vary from 0 to €1. For years 2010 and 2014, the mean percentage of population with access to curbside recycling services is 38.6% and 40.3%, and the mean number of drop-off recycling centers per 1000 persons in the population is 0.29 and 0.32, respectively. Empirical evidence suggests that population growth did not necessarily result in increases in waste generation. The results provided are useful when planning, changing or implementing sustainable municipal solid waste management.

Tourism contributes substantially to municipal solid waste generation, yet the waste from tourism systematically remains hidden behind residential waste flows. As a result, municipal fees are set without precise information about waste producers’ contributions, causing budget imbalances and cross-subsidies between residential and economic activities. To estimate tourism’s contribution to mixed waste generation in an island destination, socio-demographic, economic and disposal-related factors are modelled using municipal panel data from 2004 to 2015 for Tenerife (Spain). In contrast to previous studies, a mixed demand-supply approach is adopted to estimate the contribution of main tourism activities to mixed waste generation, thus, differentiating between tourists and residents’ contributions. An auxiliary model is used to isolate employment levels in tourism activities attributable to residents’ consumption and to capture tourists’ and residents’ mobility on the island. Estimates show that main tourism activities generate 0.40 kg of mixed waste per tourist daily, while residential and economic sectors account for 1.19 kg per resident daily. This tourism contribution is significantly lower compared to other studies, as it captures tourism’s contribution to mixed waste generation, attributable only to tourists, following a mixed demand-supply approach. These results shift impacts from tourists to main tourism activities, which highlights the choices made by producers rather than the final customers and reinforces the producers extended responsibility principle. The implementation of a Pay-As-You-Throw tariff for mixed waste is discussed as a way of promoting waste prevention and recycling, as well as avoiding cross-subsidies among waste producers and, as a result, imbalances in municipal budgets.

Over the last 20 years solid waste has become an important issue in municipalities and counties and a problem for societies aspiring to economic, social and environmental sustainability. The new, recently approved Waste Framework Directive and Landfilling Directive have even higher targets related to municipal waste recycling and landfilling, and critical changes need to take place if European targets are to be realistically achieved. Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) waste tariffs are an instrument that can help achieving recycling targets. PAYT works by linking the payment of a waste-collection tariff with the amount of waste discarded so that the payment increases when more waste is produced: “the more one discards, the more one pays”. This work shows the early stages of PAYT implementation in pilot scale in a municipality in Portugal. The changes carried out in the collection infrastructures are described, as well as other complementary measures that were simultaneously implemented, namely reinforcement of the collection of dry recyclables and promotion of home composting. This work was carried out in the framework of LIFE+, the financial instrument of the EU for the environment (LIFE 15 ENV/PT/000609). C. Dias-Ferreira acknowledges the financial support of FCT “Fundação para a Ciência e para a Tecnologia” through POCH – Programa Operacional Capital Humano within ESF – European Social Fund and by national funds (SFRH/BPD/100717/2014 and UID/AMB/00681/2013). info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) strategies are becoming widely applied in solid waste management systems; the main purpose is to support a more sustainable - from economic, environmental and social points of view - management of waste flows. Adopting PAYT charging models increases the complexity level of the waste management service as new organizational issues have to be evaluated compared to flat charging models. In addition, innovative technological solutions could also be adopted to increase the overall efficiency of the service. Unit pricing, user identification and waste measurement represent the three most important processes to be defined in a PAYT system. The paper proposes a holistic framework to support an effective design and management process. The framework defines most critical processes and effective organizational and technological solutions for supporting waste managers as well as researchers.

Waste management is increasingly considered one of the most critical environmental challenges on a worldwide basis. Municipal solid waste and packaging waste in specific is an important and growing waste stream. It has been widely recognized that recycling practices and in specific separation at source schemes should be adopted in order to achieve sustainable management of municipal solid waste and efficient resource use. Separation at source provides a promising option with environmental and economic benefits, as it contributes to the recovery of high quality materials with, eventually, cost savings for the waste management authorities. This paper provides a review and evaluation of all instruments, as well as strategies employed in operating waste management schemes at international level. More specifically, nineteen case studies are presented and assessed. Special emphasis was given in those best practice schemes that follow the waste hierarchical approach, namely prevention, preparing for re‐use, recycling, other recovery (e.g. energy recovery), disposal. Additionally, local policies that encourage separate collection at source of at least four waste streams (paper, metal, plastic, glass) were taken under consideration. The factors found to influence recycling performance were the implementation of kerbside waste collection schemes, the provision of economic incentives as well as the use of legal instruments. Furthermore, the level of public awareness and engagement achieved, the population size as well as the duration of the implementation of the scheme were also found to influence the effectiveness of the applied schemes.

Municipal recycling rates are driven by a variety of factors. Yet how these factors influence recycling over time has not been thoroughly studied. We compile and analyze a panel dataset spanning 13-years of policy, program, and contextual (socioeconomic and demographic) variables for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We find Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) to be the single most important factor influencing rates. In one time period, PAYT's effect varied by the type of recycling service (drop off, subscription, curbside) and increased recycling even more when paired with curbside pickup. Yet, across models, program designs that seek to make recycling more convenient, such as curbside pickup and single stream (the commingling of all recyclables in a single bin) are not as consistently beneficial as PAYT. Education level and median age are the most important contextual factors. Access to a Materials Recycling Facility is also an important driver of recycling rates. Our findings can inform municipal officials and waste managers as they seek to increase recycling.

This study examines the effects of pay as you throw schemes (PAYT) on municipal recycling rates in Ontario, Canada. Using a combination of panel and semi-structured survey data from provincial municipalities, focus is placed on analyzing: (a) the effects of PAYT systems on municipal recycling rates, (b) the relationship between mandatory recycling legislation and the effectiveness of PAYT policy, (c) the impact of Ontario's “one Blue Box per household” provision on PAYT schemes and (d) whether the presence of PAYT systems significantly modify household recycling behavior. The results of the analysis show that while the implementation of PAYT schemes does increase municipal recycling rates, there are opportunities for further improvement. In Ontario, the effectiveness of PAYT policy is impaired by inconsistent enforcement and the inadequate capacity of household recycling bins (“blue bins”).

espanolCerca del 10% de los residuos generados en la Union Europea (UE) son de origen domestico, lo que supone una media de 475 kg por persona y ano y mas del 3% de las emisiones totales de GEIs en Europa, lo que hace que la gestion eficiente de los residuos urbanos sea uno de los retos clave del siglo XXI, asi como una de las principales responsabilidades de nuestras administraciones publicas. El presente briefing (basado en los resultados del proyecto internacional Waste4Think) tiene como objetivo dotar de herramientas de toma de decision a la administracion publica con competencias en gestion de residuos urbanos para mejorar dicha gestion potenciando la participacion ciudadana. El documento ofrece una vision integral pionera al problema facilitando herramientas y mecanismos para la definicion de nuevas politicas integrales, su seguimiento y cuantificacion del impacto que facilitara el aprendizaje y la transferencia de conocimiento. En particular trata de dar respuesta a las principales preguntas que cualquier administracion puede hacerse en la materia: 1) ?cuales son los principales retos en gestion de residuos y como encajan con las ultimas directrices y elementos clave en materia de economia circular?, 2) ?como incorporar dichos elementos de una manera integral?, 3) metodologia WESTE: ?que informacion necesito para poder hacer un seguimiento del impacto de mis politicas?, 4) monitorizacion: ?perdida del anonimato?, 5) fiscalidad: ?cuestion de justicia? ?transparencia?, 6) sensibilizacion y participacion ciudadana: ?como generar un cambio de habitos ya que unicamente con informacion no es suficiente?. El documento ademas pone a disposicion del lector algunos de los ejemplos mas innovadores en: 1) implantacion de sistemas de pago por generacion (PAYT), 2) medidas de contencion del despilfarro alimentario, 3) prevencion de residuos a traves de politicas de eco-diseno, 4) ecosistemas de Residuo Cero haciendo especial hincapie en los equipamientos municipales y 5) ejemplos de ayuntamientos con modelos de recogida pioneros y exitosos. EnglishAlmost 10% of the waste produced in the European Union (EU) is domestic. This averages out to 475 kg per person per annum, and accounts for over 3% of Europe’s GHG emissions. Efficient management of urban waste is therefore a key challenge for the 21st century and one of the main responsibilities of public authorities. This briefing (based on international project Waste4Think results) sets out to outline decision-making tools for the public authorities in matters of municipal solid waste (MSW) management, with a view to improving it via public engagement. The document gives an innovative overview of the problem, and provides tools and mechanisms for determining new, across-the-board policies, monitoring them and quantifying their impact so as to facilitate learning and transference. In particular it seeks to respond to the main questions posed by any administration on this matter: 1) What are the main challenges in waste management and how to they fit into the latest directives and key elements on matters of a circular economy?; 2) How can those elements be factored in across the board?; 3) The WESTE methodology: What information is needed to monitor the impact of policies?; 4) Monitoring: loss of anonymity?; 5) Taxation: a matter of fairness? Transparency?; 6) awareness and public engagement: How can a change in habits be brought about if information alone is not enough? The document also provides readers with some of the most innovative examples of the following: 1) implementation of PAYT (Pay-As-You-Throw) systems; 2) measures for containing food wastage; 3) waste prevention via eco-design policies; 4) zero waste ecosystems, with particular emphasis on municipal amenities; and 5) municipal councils with successful, pioneering collection systems.

This deliverable will define the Sustainability Assessment Model for all the solutions involved in the project as well as calculating the baseline of every pilot using this model. Each section will have a brief description of the specific characteristics of the waste management systems of each pilot, the general and specific objectives, the methodology used and the main results. When necessary an appendix will be used to include all the supplementary information. When necessary an appendix will be used to include all the supplementary information. This deliverable will set the basis of comparison to follow the progress of the project in terms of KPIs for the four pilots. However, as in this stage the methodology is still being implementing some corrections or updates (specially regarding the data) may be necessary in the future. Any change that may arise in the KPI methodology or in the update of the data will be updated in the subsequent monitoring reports (from D1.4 to D1.7).

Environmental taxes have long been proposed as an efficient means of improving the fiscal solvency of governments, while at the same time correcting for environmental externalities. However, public support for environmental taxes is often low, making the implementation of these instruments politically challenging in some settings. Scholars have explored the reasons for this broad, negative attitude towards environmental taxes, especially since these taxes are by design supposed to be welfare-improving. But previous empirical analysis on this topic is sparse and limited in context. Here, we empirically analyze support for environmental taxes across four countries, using a household survey on environmental attitudes, behaviour and policy exposure conducted by OECD during 2011. The environmental tax we focus on is pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) charges for mixed waste collection. Looking at expressed levels of support for PAYT charges, we find that people who are exposed to such systems tend to be significantly more supportive of them. This indicates that ex ante public resistance to such schemes is likely to dissipate following their introduction, a pattern which is supported by other, anecdotal reports and by lab experiments with generic Pigouvian taxes which we summarize in the literature review.

The construction industry is faced with many challenges, among which is waste management. Aside from the fact that wastage contributes to time and cost overrun, it also has environmental implications in the form of pollution. However, the industry has the capacity to effectively manage waste, from generation to disposal. All stages of the management process are important, but scholars and governments have provided the final step, being disposal, unabated attention in order to ensure effective management. Potential waste disposal methods, including incineration, burning, landfilling, recycling, reuse, open dumping, pyrolysis, and shredding have emerged from the literature around the globe. Despite various waste minimisation and sustainable disposal options that are available, construction material waste is still increasing in Nigeria, while disposal remains a major issue for firms and government. Therefore, this study assesses disposal methods among construction firms to determine whether there is a relationship between their practices towards waste disposal. The research followed a concurrent triangulation design in a cross sectional survey, while data were collected via a convergent parallel mixed methods. The quantitative phase employed a structured questionnaire to collect data from 243 building construction firms, while the qualitative phase involved semi-structured interviews with 65 professionals from 10 on-going construction projects in Lagos, Nigeria. The research revealed that landfilling is the most common method of waste disposal, which is closely followed by reuse as backfill and recycling. In addition, the study revealed no association between company&rsquo, s ownership statuses, age, project specialisation, and disposal methods, except company&rsquo, s size. In conclusion, the study establishes the need for regulatory policies, such as site waste management plan (SWMP), pay as you throw (PAYT), and landfill ban, which would minimise material waste and divert them from landfills. Recycling and reuse are recommended as sustainable approaches for waste disposal.

PurposeThis paper aims to assess the current waste management situation in Estonian municipalities and outlines the main constraints hindering the implementation of the Pay‐As‐You‐Throw (PAYT) system into the existing waste management model.Design/methodology/approachData pertaining to the treatment methods of municipal solid waste (MSW) and the ability to implement the PAYT system were gathered from 150 of the 226 local municipalities, whilst statistical data related to the amounts of MSW generated and separately collected at a municipal level were obtained from the Estonian Environmental Information Centre.FindingsThe results of the study showed that 39 per cent of the municipalities sort waste before landfilling. To increase the sorting ability of inhabitants, 43 per cent of those municipalities that responded to the questionnaire suggested enhancing awareness among people in regard to waste handling. It was found that people are not economically motivated to sort their waste due to the fact that differences in charges between separately collected and unsorted waste are negligible. It was estimated that implementing the PAYT system in one rural municipality would increase the cost of emptying containers by approximately 20‐45 per cent.Practical implicationsResults of the study can be used in countries with a comparable economic situation to improve their current economic and legislative context in the field of sustainable waste management.Originality/valueThe novelty is that the authors aimed to assess the possibility of implementation of the Pay‐As‐You‐Throw system in practice, using Estonian municipalities as a case area, including economic feasibility and willingness of stakeholders to apply the system.

There is global consensus for developing a circular economy and building green societies. As the two leading countries in their regions in this field, both China and Germany want to reduce the environmental impacts of waste and avoid the programme of “NIMBY” and have accumulated much experience in waste reduction and gradient utilisation of waste. “Pay As You Throw”, “Green Dot” system and “trade in policy (the new for old policy)” have all proven to lead to higher recycling rates and the minimisation of waste in the past 30–40 years. The article shows how German waste legislation developed to achieve the actual recycling rates. Though Germany follows the European laws, above this it has set a number of even stricter requirements, which are summarised in this paper. The main strategies for implementing source separation are described, while potentials are detected for certain waste fractions like plastics and textiles.

Aquest document conté originàriament altre material i/o programari només consultable a la Biblioteca de Ciència i Tecnologia Actualment, la Directiva 2008/98/UE estableix un ordre de vies de gestió preferents dels residus. Aquesta jerarquia prioritza la Prevenció de la generació de residus davant de la Preparació per a la reutilització i aquesta sobre la valorització material i després la valorització energètica. En darrer lloc, s'opta per la deposició dels residus en dipòsits controlats. La gestió dels residus a Catalunya en general, i la dels assimilables a municipals del sector comercial i industrial en particular, estan planificades dins d'aquest marc legal a partir del qual ha sorgit un principi molt clar; el residu és un recurs. En els darrers cinc anys a Catalunya la generació d'aquesta tipologia de residus ha augmentat d'un 19'37% l'any 2010 a un 23'90% l'any 2015, a Malgrat de mar, la generació d'aquesta tipologia de residus ha fluctuat incrementant-se i disminuint en aquest període. Malgrat de Mar, avui dia, té implementat el model de recollida segregat per les fraccions del vidre, matèria orgànica i el paper i cartró que es recullen als comerços acollits voluntàriament al Porta a Porta. Quant als envasos només es fa el Porta a Porta per les dependències municipals i tots els hotels del municipi. Des de l'any 2009 que es va començar a implementar el Porta a Porta dels residus comercials i industrials assimilables a municipals, va suposar un augment del 60% de la recollida selectiva. A l'agost hi ha un pic en la producció de residus per tractar-se d'una població turística però encara essent el moment de màxima generació de residus, no s'arriben a omplir els bujols de les diferents activitats econòmiques, en cap cas s'omplen més del 60% de la seva capacitat. També cal destacar que la generació de residus és molt variable entre les diferents tipologies d'activitat (118 litres de mitjana als supermercats i 71 litres al comerç d'electrònica) per tant, és injust que la seva taxa sigui tant similar. La gestió dels residus municipals té unes despeses i uns costos, per tant, des dels Ens Locals s'estableixen sistemes fiscals amb el pagament d'una taxa per part dels productors dels residus però darrerament, altres municipis com Canet de Mar o Argentona ho realitzen mitjançant el Pagament per generació, sistema que ha augmentat el percentatge de recollida selectiva, des d'un mínim d'un 3'5% fins un màxim d'un 74%, en tots els municipis on s'ha aplicat. En aquest treball, per una banda, s'analitza el sistema de recollida de residus comercials Porta a Porta a Malgrat de Mar des d'una perspectiva econòmica, política, logística i ambiental. De l'altra banda i paral·lelament, s'estudia les experiències dels municipis que ja tenen implantat el sistema del Pagament per generació i a continuació, es caracteritza la recollida de la fracció del paper i el cartró al municipi d'estudi. Posteriorment, a partir dels resultats de l'anàlisi del model vigent a Malgrat de Mar s'aprofundeix en els seus punts forts però especialment en els seus punts dèbils, a fi de discutir les principals estratègies polítiques, logístiques i econòmiques de millora per conduir al municipi a un grau de maduresa tal que se li faciliti la transició cap al Pagament per generació. At present, the Directive 2008/98/UE lays down an order of preference of the waste management routes. This hierarchy gives priority to the Prevention of waste generation in front of the Preparation for the reuse and this about the waste value and then the energy value. Finally, you opt for the deposition of the waste in controlled deposits. Waste management in Catalonia in general, and that of the waste assimilated to municipal of the commercial and industrial sector in particular, are planned within this legal framework from which there was a very clear principle; the residue is a resource. In the last five years in Catalonia, the generation of this type of waste has increased from 19 to 37% in 2010 to 23'90% in 2015, in Malgrat de Mar, the generation of this type of waste has been fluctuating by increasing and decreasing in this period. Malgrat de Mar, today, has implemented the model of separated collection to the fractions of glass, organic material and paper and cardboard collected from the shops voluntarily adhered to Door-to-Door. As for containers only the Door-to-Door is applied for the municipal dependencies and all the hotels of the municipality. Since in 2009 it began to implement the Door-to-Door to commercial and industrial waste assimilated to municipal, marked an increase of 60% of the selective collection. In August there is a peak in the production of waste because of the tourism in town but even being the moment of maximum waste generation, do not get to fill in the buckets of the different economic activities, in no case will fill more than 60% of its capacity. It should also be noted that waste generation is highly variable among the different types of activity (118 liters on average in supermarkets and 71 liter in electronics shops) therefore, it is unfair that their waste rates are so similar. The management of municipal waste has expenses and costs, therefore, from the local authorities establish tax systems with the payment of a fee by producers of the waste but lately, other municipalities as Canet de Mar and Argentona do it with using the Pay as you throw. This system has increased the percentage of separate collection, from a minimum of a 3'5% up to a maximum of 74%, in all municipalities where it has been applied. In this paper, firstly, the commercial waste collection Door-to-Door system is analysed in Malgrat de Mar from an economic, political, logistics and environmental point of view. On the other hand and parallely, there is a study of the experiences of the municipalities that have already introduced the system of Pay as you throw. Subsequently, based on the results of the analysis of the present model in Malgrat de Mar we studying depth their strengths but especially their weaknesses in order to discuss the main political, logistics and economic improvement strategies to lead the municipality to a step of maturity so that the transition to Pay as you throw is facilitated.

The “Pay-as-you-throw” scheme, PAYT, is an economic instrument of waste management that implements the “polluter pays” principle by charging inhabitants of municipalities according to the amount of residual, organic and bulky waste they send for third-party waste management. When combined with well-developed infrastructure to collect the different waste fractions (residual waste, paper and cardboard, plastics, bio waste, green cuttings, many recyclables) as well as with a good level of citizen’s awareness, its performance has frequently been linked to high collection rates of recyclables. However, the establishment and operation of PAYT systems can require significant resource inputs from municipalities. In this paper, PAYT is analysed through a case study from the German County of Aschaffenburg, covering nearly 20 years of implementation across 173,000 inhabitants. Key performance indicators applied include temporal trends in the county’s recyclables collection rate, waste treatment fees for residents and municipal waste management costs, benchmarked against German municipalities not implementing PAYT.

This article analyses regulation and municipal solid waste management experience in the Florence metropolitan area (Tuscany-Italy). The case study brings to evidence the most relevant aspects of modern technical and economic waste regulation contributing to the practical and theoretical debate on this subject, quite common in many countries of the world. The main topics covered are the following: (a) the presence of a supramunicipal local regulator (Local Waste Authority) that operates in the absence of a National Regulatory Authority (the opposite to what happens in Italy in the water, energy, and transport sectors); (b) the choice to promote scale economies focusing mainly on the demand side and to entrust the management of the service to a single local waste operator through a tendering process, overcoming the previous fragmented situation (from 50 operators to one single operator); (c) the choice of becoming more efficient through economies of scale and adopting the tendering procedure for the entrustment of urban waste management (one of the biggest in Europe for fifteen years); (d) the choice of including in the concession agreement the environmental objectives foreseen by Italian and European legislation (70 % of separate waste and 60 % recycling, energy saving, no landfill); (e) the choice of keeping the implementation of the energy plant (for which a PPP partnership had been foreseen, selecting the private partner through a tendering process) separated from the integrated service management; (f) the choice to switch from a local taxation system specifically intended for waste (TARI) to a ‘pay as you throw’ system with consequential direct responsibility for the regulator in collecting and overcoming ‘derivative finance’ and a broadened application of the producer liability principle; and (g) adding the ‘urban waste management’ project to the ‘smart city’ strategy framework of Florence and its metropolitan area.

Waste management is an important issue all over the world and it will become even more urgent in the near future due to the increase of global volumes of waste. Waste prevention is at the top of the European waste hierarchy, followed by reuse, recycling, other recovery (including energy recovery), and safe disposal. In Italy, municipalities are the authorities that concretely choose the prevention actions to be applied in their territory and therefore they are crucial in promoting a decrease in waste amounts. In our research we investigated costs and benefits of prevention actions in three small municipalities in the north of Italy. We found that the “Pay as You Throw” (PAYT) scheme is an effective action in preventing waste production, with many instances, on analyzing the collection data. The specific effect of the other actions (such as the awareness raising campaigns) is difficult to isolate, even if we found positive impacts. We analyzed some external drivers, such as the migration effect, in order to understand the real effectiveness of the implemented actions. One of the objectives of the study was to comprehend the consequences of political choices at a bigger scale than the individual municipality. Analyzing the results obtained in three typical small Italian municipalities, this study suggests that local authorities, with their choices, can greatly affect the efficacy of selected waste collection and waste prevention.

Many municipalities across the United States have turned to unit based pricing—also known as pay as you throw (PAYT)—as a vehicle for reducing municipal solid waste generation, increasing recycling, and promoting equity in paying for the service. In this paper, we reevaluate the standard analytical methods used to examine the impact of PAYT in the literature and illustrate that econometric shortcomings may have led to underestimation of policy effects. A two-tier analytical approach to examining PAYT program effects is proposed and is demonstrated in a case study of New Hampshire municipalities.

To extract an optimal willingness to pay for a waste collection service from an expected house price was the goal of this paper. The data were collected from households in Songkhla and Hatyai cities representing cultural and commercial characteristic areas, respectively. They were analysed by hedonic pricing method (HPM) in a form of Box-Cox model framework based on area characteristics. The findings indicated that the marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for a waste collection service is about 45 baht/month for Songkhla and is about 55 baht/month for Hatyai. Moreover, an inverse demand for the service showed that people living in commercial area would tend to pay less than those in the cultural area even though they gain more benefits from a higher house price in the commercial area. This could reflect an important role of area characteristics on determining willingness to pay of residents.

Householders' response to weight-based billing for the collection of household waste was investigated with the aim of providing decision support for waste management policies. Three questions were addressed: How much and what kind of information on weight-based billing is discernible in generic Swedish waste collection statistics? Why do local authorities implement weight-based billing, and how do they perceive the results? and, Which strengths and weaknesses of weight-based billing have been observed on the local level? The study showed that municipalities with pay-by-weight schemes collected 20% less household waste per capita than other municipalities. Surprisingly, no part of this difference could be explained by higher recycling rates. Nevertheless, the majority of waste management professionals were convinced that recycling had increased as a result of the billing system. A number of contradicting strengths and weaknesses of weight-based billing were revealed.

In an era of global warming, rising energy costs and increasing volumes of wastes destined for landfills and incinerators, communities should set up environmentally sustainable services that are cost-effective for their citizens and revenue generators for municipalities. A win-win garbage collection and kerbside recycling program established more than eight years ago in a small rural community in Ohio, US is still going strong. It is offering a relatively inexpensive way for waste disposal by providing an incentive-based and highly participatory kerbside recycling and at the same time bringing in substantial franchise fees for the municipal coffers. Unlike garbage contracts in most communities that are designed for only residential waste collection, this program extends disposal and recycling services to non-residential establishments. It picks up hard-to-dispose household furniture, appliances and other bulky items without additional costs to the residents. By being creative and assessing local political and socio-economic milieu, public officials can implement a comprehensive service package for taking care of their community throwaways. However, before establishing such programs in partnership with a private firm, city administrators must understand the intricacies of bid specifications customized for municipal wastes and recyclable materials.

Over the course of two decades, organics collection in Seattle (population 620,778) evolved from a limited yard waste collection service initiated in 1989 to a comprehensive and mandatory residential curbside food and yard waste collection system established in 2011. This development was not the result of state pressure, as the State of Washington has no waste reduction mandate. Instead curbside compostables collection in Seattle was propelled by the skyrocketing landfill disposal costs and bolstered by elected officials and city staff who were committed to waste reduction. Also working in its favor, Seattle had a local yard waste processing plant that was able to integrate food waste, as well as a solid waste utility supported by a PAYT (pay as you throw) system. Trash disposal fee-based incentives, paired with a zero waste resolution and a participation mandate for single- and multi-family residences, have increased Seattle’s composting levels and helped the city achieve one of the highest per capita compostables collection rates in the nation.

This study examines stakeholder perceptions of pay as you throw schemes (PAYT) in Ontario, Canada. Using a combination of panel and semi-structured survey data from provincial municipalities, focus is placed on analyzing: (a) the effects of PAYT systems on municipal recycling rates and program costs (b) stakeholder perceptions on the perceived effectiveness of PAYT policy (c) how locality affects PAYT program costs and affect municipal recycling rates and (d) the impact of Ontario’s “one Blue Box per household” provision on PAYT schemes. The results of the analysis show that while the implementation of PAYT schemes do increase municipal recycling rates, there are opportunities for further improvement. In Ontario, the effectiveness of PAYT policy is impaired by inconsistent enforcement, administrative burden, and the inadequate capacity of household recycling bins (“blue bins”).

Solid waste management has become a major issue in almost all municipalities especially in developing countries across the world. As more waste needs to be collected and disposed of in urban areas, the increased cost cannot be covered by the available funds in developing countries. Managing the Household Solid Waste (HSW) sector is very important as it is the main contributor of the waste that needs to be collected in residential areas. The reduction of the amount of HSW to be disposed of can be achieved by households themselves practising the "4R" activities: reducing, reusing, recycling and recovering. As a policy instrument, the Waste Management Charge (WMC) for HSW has shown much success in encouraging such activities all over the world. Given the already difficult context in which developing countries operate, it is important to careful consider what kind of charging system is implemented. Using available literature, this paper reviews the applicability of available charging methods, from a flat rate method, through to volume-based (bags, cans or tag/sticker) and weight-based charging methods. These charging methods were evaluated on the basis of overall cost, technology need possible other issues. By considering the conditions in developing countries, a 'pre-paid bag based charging method' could be suggested as the most suitable charging method for a WMC in Sri Lanka or other developing countries. The potential applicability of this method was also examined in the context of social, economic and political characteristics. Whilst the use of economic instruments, including WMC, was widely discussed in the literature, the selection of a charging method in the context of developing countries is rarely discussed. Having said that, this paper gives an insight to the policy makers in developing countries upon using pre-paid bag based charging method for HSW sector. It also provides recommendations regarding possible issues in implementing for developing countries where there is an absence of such a Quantity-Based Charging (QBC) system for the HSW sector.

Municipal Experience with "Pay-As-You-Throw" Policies: Findings From a National Survey Based on a large, nationally representative sample of cities with recycling programs, this study examines whether a Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) pricing policy for solid waste collection and disposal service is an incentive for households to change their waste disposal and recycling behaviors. The study finds that cities that adopted this policy realized significant reductions in the amount of waste disposed per household and significant increases in the amount of materials recycled, controlling for the effects of other policies and demographic features. The study concludes that a PAYT policy has potential to help local officials advance the strategic waste management goals of waste reduction, increased recycling, and control of waste disposal costs. Municipal Experience with "Pay As You Throw" Policies: Findings From a National Survey Pay as you throw (PAYT), also known as variable rate or unit based pricing charges customers based on the amount of solid waste they discard. This strategy for pricing local solid waste collection and disposal services is analogous to that used by local utilities for electricity, gas, water, and sanitary sewer services where customers pay for what they use, except in this case, citizens pay for how much they throw away. Once limited to a few hundred cities 20 years ago, there now are 4,032 communities in 43 states with PAYT programs (U.S. EPA 2000). Collectively, these communities serve about 10% of the U.S. population or about 27 million residents (Burgiel and Randall 1998). What prompted local officials in these communities to tackle the political challenges of persuading citizens to pay for solid waste collection and disposal based on the volume of waste discarded? Why adopt this method of financing and abandon reliance on local taxes as the primary funding mechanism, especially when many citizens might conclude that they must now pay for this formerly "free" service? Similarly, are the merits of a variable fee system sufficient to overcome the simplicity of a flat fee policy that charges all households the same amount regardless of how much waste they place at the curb? What have communities with PAYT policies learned that might benefit other local officials considering adoption of this policy? There are several purported benefits of PAYT policies. Among the more prominent advantages described in the literature are the potential to: reduce solid waste collection and disposal costs for the community, reduce the volume of waste generated by households, and increase the levels of solid waste recycling and composting (Kutzmark and Canterbury 1996, Canterbury 1998, Horton 1999, Bauer and Miranda 1996). Claims of savings in collection and disposal costs are predicated primarily on less municipal solid waste (MSW) disposed by

Domestic waste whose pricing can't be separated from the pricing of public economics category is quasi public goods. Based on Two-part Tariff method on urban public utilities, this paper designs the pricing model in order to match the charging method and estimates the standard of pay-as-you-throw using data of the past five years in Xi'an. Finally, this paper summarizes the main results and proposes corresponding policy recommendations.

The efficient management of waste is important in order to reduce negative externalities, such as air, water and soil pollution. A major challenge is the increasing amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) produced by households. Municipalities around the world have implemented pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) schemes in order to incentivise the reduction of MSW. Although the literature has shown that these financial incentive schemes are often effective, they are criticised in practice for raising costs to society. This paper aims to assess whether or not this criticism is correct. A social cost-benefit analysis was conducted in order to take into account economic, environmental and social costs and benefits. Our results show that PAYT schemes reduce overall social costs and therefore positively contribute to the social efficiency of a municipality. The above criticism is not supported by empirical evidence, but in practice forms a barrier to the implementation of PAYT schemes. In order to remove this barrier, we encourage the readers of JEAPM to disseminate our findings to a wider audience.