In Maryland, pay-as-you-throw trash collection effectively reducing waste and nudging behavior

Landfill expansions, recycling, service days and rates, single-use plastic — they’re all topics that have been front and center for the City of Minot over the past year. That’s appropriate — there are few things more central for a municipality than garbage removal.

And it’s on that topic that this story from Maryland is relevant half-way across the country. What are the policy tools that may play into how we the people manage our trash streams? One method that’s working at making people think about what they consume — and thus throw away — is a pay as you throw rate system.

Of course, a pay-as-you-throw structure will seem radical in Minot. It’s because not too long ago that we could put anything we wanted on the street and the City would pick it up and take it away. But that system wasn’t financially sustainable, and it certainly didn’t incentivize responsible behavior from we the people.

But it invites the question, if we the government want we the people to change behavior — like maybe be more conscious of what you purchase (and thus throw away) — should we be willing to nudge that behavior through policy like pay-as-you-throw?

Check out the full article from the Carroll County Times below and join the conversation in the comment section.