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Trash Fee Doesn't Fit The Bill
Submitted by wilsona on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 11:51am.
Mayor Nutter's "Keep Philly Clean" program is a noble attempt to plug Philadelphia's gaping budget deficit, but it doesn't fit the bill of a City striving to become the "Greenest City in America" - a title Philadelphia's Sustainability Office is eager to earn. As Nutter outlined in a public address yesterday, Philadelphia seeks to fix the deficit problem by charging residents a weekly $5.77 trash fee and offering discounts at area stores to residents who recycle.
Philadelphia disposes of 700,000 tons of waste each year and has historically had one of the lowest recycling rates of any major city. The heaps of trash left curbside translate into $65/ton tipping fees and a mounting deficit. It is no wonder the administration is determined to improve recycling rates. It's also heartening to hear that Nutter may be flexible on the structure of the trash fee he has proposed.
A flat trash and recycling fee of $300/yr (with a slight break granted to low-income residents) is structurally flawed. Because trash disposal is far more costly to the city than recycling, the two curbside services should not be priced equally. While Philadelphia pays to landfill and incinerate its trash, it can earn money by re-selling used glass, paper, and plastic. Instead of charging residents $5.77/week to put their waste at the curb, Philadelphia should follow the lead of more than 6,000 municipalities and institute a "Pay As You Throw" (PAYT) program. A PAYT program would better incentivize trash reduction as it charges residents per unit of trash produced.
A PAYT program is also preferable to the "Recycling Rewards" program Nutter unveiled in December. The "Recycling Rewards" program provides convenient discounts to residents, but it may cause money to leave Philadelphia’s economy quickly. Nearly all of the Recycling Rewards discounts offer savings at franchises, instead of a diversity of locally-owned businesses. After all we've learned about food miles and outsourcing jobs and resources, I'd hope we'd be more intent about keeping rewards money within the Philadelphia economy
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Good points, but how feasible?
I like the idea of paying per usage because it does meet the sustainability goals, but how would one measure the volume of trash discarded? If you pay per bag, should a bag full of concrete count as much as a bag full of inflated balloons? Also, how would it be measured consistently? The nice thing about something like water is that a machine is able to meter usage extremely efficiently. Trying to meter trash would likely require an extra person just to calculate the usage. I like the idea, but I think it is ultimately unfeasible.
Per bag
It's important not to make things too complicated. When I was in Ithaca, we had bag tags. It was a good system. I am sure some got forged. So what? So some people cheat. They will probably be the people who most need the money, so whatever.
should a bag of concrete count the same as a bag of unrecyclable plastic? yes. More accurate answere: because who cares?
Again, the point is to dimish waste and most people's waste is pretty similar. So don't worry about the outliers. Who cares? Worry about what 95% of all residential trash in the city looks like.
The right way too do it is a very simple bag tag system. That would be awesome.
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This Too Will Pass, for the guts in your cerebrum.