Dive Summary:

• Bag-based program's disposal fees are determined by the quantity of bags residents throw away and provide waste reduction almost immediately, as each address is charged per bag, instead of a flat fee for bulk trash collection.
• 7,100 areas throughout the United States have introduced a pay-as-you-thrown program into the community, in a report issued by the EPA.
• Pay-as-you-throw programs generally lead to drops in waste collection rates.

From the article:

"What we're really talking about doing is taking how we pay for solid waste back into the mainstream of how we pay for everything else."

"...changing the way people pay for garbage services — especially when the traditional model makes it easier to forget that they're paying for it — can be a serious challenge for cities."

"Our tonnage for solid waste that we pay to dispose of dropped by about 60%, and recycling tonnages went from an average rate of 10-13% to an average of probably 40-44%."