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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 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.

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 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Irish waste collectors were advised by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government to adopt pay-by-use (PBU) domestic waste charges from 1 st January 2005. The measure was taken to combat the rising volumes of waste produced nationally and to apply the polluter pays principle to waste charges, in line with EU waste principles and sustainability objectives. The PBU charges have been adopted by waste collectors nationwide; however these charges have been implemented in different forms across the country with several different PBU systems (weight, tag, and differential bin size systems) used by waste collectors. In order to optimise PBU to ensure achievement of nationally desired waste management outcomes research into the impacts each PBU system was undertaken. The study evaluated the components of each PBU system in terms of their impacts upon waste disposal, recycling, and, in particular, source reduction in order to determine the most environmentally effective system. The research into the impacts of PBU systems on the environment found that in Ireland weight-based PBU charges are marginally more environmentally effective than tag-based charges and differential bin size charges in terms of residual, recycling, and total waste levels.

Reduction and recycling initiatives being implemented in Taiwan include producer responsibility, pay-as-you-throw, and etc. The paper presents the recent management programs implemented for municipal solid waste, and also studies the change of characteristics for incineration-feeding waste to explore the influence of management strategies of MSW reduction and recycling on the waste characteristics. It is found that not only the annual amount of MSW generated in 2008 decreases about 5% than that in 2005, but also the characteristics of refuse have significant variability due to the recent management strategies. A comparison on monthly variation of chemical elements indicates that the chlorine content in refuse changes obviously. This would be the result from the usage reduction in PVC plastic due to the RFM program, and the food waste as well as salt content reduction due to the TKG program. This achievement would give a benefit to reduce the dioxins emission from MSW incineration. In summary, the management strategies must be conducted in tandem with the global trend to achieve a zero-waste-discharge country. It is important to consider the changes that may occur in the composition and characteristic of MSW with time in planning for future MSW management systems. All programs relative to MSW reduction management are worthy of notice.

Over the past 20 years, significant advances have been made in developing efficient schemes to charge households for their actual waste generation. Viable fee models and technical solutions which are applicable to different environments and provide waste generators with individual incentives for waste diversion efforts have increased the recognition of pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) as an effective instrument for recycling-oriented waste management and financing. On this basis, PAYT has become a practical reality in an increasing number of countries in Europe. Even countries with traditional reservations for direct charging have started to make consideration of PAYT in the revision of their national policy programmes. A situational analysis performed at the European level showed that detailed insights regarding the concrete reactions, red flags and wider benefits inherent to such scheme may still have to be further dispersed in order to overcome the caveats on PAYT and eventually adopt the approach on a larger scale. Claims that the results of PAYT applications are only local in meaning can be disproved as many of the developments bear universal character and can be verified even for larger territories using such schemes in different ways. Including results from an international research co-operation and comparative studies conducted in Germany, this article examines the state-of-the-art of PAYT and shades light onto some of the generally observed implications of its implementation. In conclusion, an outlook on the further potentials and propagation of this scheme is given.

Although the whole idea behind the PAYT approach is to develop a fairer system of waste charges than currently used, there still remains a number of issues that need to be considered when designing any given application of the PAYT principle, bearing in mind the variety of possible PAYT systems and the set of factors that influence their implementation. We assume that the perception of the system's fairness affects acceptance and thus participation, in the sense that the higher the perceived fairness the higher will be the acceptance of the system and, therefore, the higher the participation will be. Consequently, when it comes to analysing the acceptance of the implementation of a PAYT system or its effective functioning, waste management decision-makers should be interested in making sure that the system is perceived as fair in order to ensure a high participation rate. In addition, from a social point of view, decision-makers and politicians may be interested in the consequences of the operation of the system for other social values and in its impacts on particular groups of participants. This presentation examines the conditions for fairness and the considerations that should be taken into account so as to design a fair PAYT system in a specific municipality.

This paper deals with the environmentally important issue regarding how best to motivate citizens to reduce their individual waste production. The paper discusses the pros and cons of the various financial incentives incorporated into the waste charging mechanism, pay-as-you-throw (PAYT). Pay-as-you-throw breaks with the tradition of paying for waste services through general blanket taxes or levies in the form of flat rates in that households are required to pay individually adjusted fees in the same way as water and electricity bills are calculated on an individual consumption basis. This difference is achieved through the interplay of three principal components which mark the technical implementation of PAYT: identification as a vehicle to attain accountability, measurement of the generated waste and/or corresponding services, and unit pricing as the basis for individual charges proportional to the extent of the obtained services. However, any motivating factor for inducing citizens to dispose of their recyclable discards and residual waste must be supported by a well developed collection infrastructure, good media information and an appropriate, transparent charging policy. Of particular importance is the use of a multi-tiered charge model, i.e., the charging of a fixed minimum fee plus certain variable components payable in respect of the service structure. The introduction of a basic charge, albeit reducing the intensity of the incentives created by the PAYT system, ensures that certain fixed costs for the provision of waste services will be covered independently from the actual waste developments and, at the same time, minimises the temptation to attempt to bypass the system. Such an arrangement for the waste charges neither contradicts the principle of pay-as-you-throw nor does it impair the waste diversion for which it is implemented. Waste statistics and figures representing the waste charging situation in Germany indicate that there is a relatively good correlation between the level of recycling and the amount of perceived financial motivation provided by PAYT. Waste stream developments in areas using such charging schemes generally suggest that the reduction goals are being achieved. Single figures on decreasing quantities of collected residual waste, however, say little about the actual efficiency of differentiated waste charging models and deliver little in the way of reasoned explanation as to why the diffusion of variable rate pricing is progressing painstakingly slowly. To evaluate the success, feasibility and problems of PAYT schemes, one needs to consider the various ways for technically implementing this approach in practice, and must take a broader look into the wide spectrum of available waste services and into more factors that influence their efficiency and acceptance. Urban structure settings assume a particular importance here as do the specific goals of social policy which, among others, are reflected in the charging mechanisms applied. Practical experience, however, shows that solutions can be found which allow most of the concerns and area specifics to be accommodated and waste streams to be influenced in the desired way. Aside from this, positive effects as to waste collection efficiency can also be achieved, which contribute towards long-term environmental improvements and countervail the incremental costs of implementing PAYT.

This paper presents some preliminary, qualitative results on the applicability of the implementation of a waste management and pricing system based on 'Pay As You Throw' (PAYT) in Greece. PAYT is described and both its aims and potential benefits and problems are presented. Next, the waste charging and billing systems are studied. Finally, a possible implementation scheme is proposed for PAYT to be potentially successful in Greece.