PAYT Case Studies

• PAYT and Illegal Disposal - One concern facing solid waste administrators interested in implementing a Pay-As-You-Throw garbage collection program is the possibility of increased illegal dumping in their community. Some county and municipal leaders fear that citizens may illegally dispose of their household waste in an effort to avoid paying for the amount of garbage they generate. In response to this concern, the Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance (DPPEA) surveyed every community in North Carolina operating a unit-based waste collection program. The goal was to evaluate individual PAYT programs and identify any associated illegal disposal problems. Findings from the surveys indicate that communities operating PAYT garbage collection programs have typically not seen an increase in illegal garbage disposal.  Full Text
  
  

• Transylvania County - Transylvania County, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, initiated a Pay-As-You-Throw program in 1995 after a six-month education and implementation campaign. This program requires residents to attach pre-bought stickers to all bags disposed of at the county drop-off centers. Stickers can be purchased for $1.25 each at the seven drop-off centers and six retail outlets. Start-up costs for the PAYT program were approximately $4,500. Since program inception in 1995 to FY 98-99, recycling has increased 70 percent and solid waste disposal has decreased 39 percent.  Full Text

• City of Eden - The city of Eden, located in the foothills of the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains, has recently completed a pilot Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) program with 2,000 households selected from various demographic regions of the city. The program was set up as a volume-based, ID sticker system with four different levels of service. The pilot program cost the city approximately $2,000 to implement. A unique aspect of the pilot program is that all four levels of service are provided using one 96-gallon roll-out container per household. The project has enabled the city to gather information on the current residential waste system, educate citizens on the true cost of solid waste services, and gain enlightenment on the prospect of a citywide PAYT program.  

Eden Pilot Program: Case Study
Eden Citywide Full PAYT Program: Case Study

• Craven County - Craven County is located in Eastern North Carolina, along the Neuse River. Craven County, with a population of 89,008, implemented a PAYT program in November 1991.Craven County boasts one of the most successful waste reduction programs in North Carolina. Craven County contracts with six franchised haulers for weekly garbage collection. Each bag of trash must have a sticker attached to it. Collection personnel remove the stickers before placing the garbage in the trucks. The haulers then submit the stickers to the county for payment. A countywide curbside recycling program offers each household the opportunity to keep to a minimum what ends up in the garbage bag. The weekly curbside service accepts newspaper, corrugated cardboard, glass containers, aluminum products, steel cans (including aerosol cans), HDPE and PETE containers.  Full Text