How much trash do we throw away? How does recycling work? What, even, is compost? TRASHED is a three-part series that looks at the state of waste in the D.C. region and the options local experts are exploring to cut down on the amount of trash that鈥檚 piling up.
The small town of New Windsor, Maryland, is making a big difference when it comes to trash.
Between November 2018 and March 2019, the Carroll County community of 1,396 residents cut the amount of garbage collected at the curb nearly in half, from 44.12 tons per month to 23.42.
How did they do it? Residents started paying for each bag of trash they threw in the bin.
The radical results were a surprise to Town Manager Gary Dye, but not to waste reduction strategist Kristen Brown, who helped implement New Windsor鈥檚 pilot program.
鈥淚t always works,鈥� said Brown, a national expert on waste diversion聽鈥� a term that describes strategies used to reduce waste going to the landfill or incinerator by recycling or other means.
鈥淓very time a community moves this forward, they reduce their waste between 40 and 50 percent and it鈥檚 very, very, very fun to see.鈥�
Tying your waste to your wallet
New Windsor’s 34-week program, which ends in June, is called unit-based pricing, and . Brown came across it around 30 years ago, while working in Europe. In the U.S., Worcester, Massachusetts, put it in place in the 1990s, and once they did, Brown said, residents dropped their trash rate by about 50% 鈥� 鈥渁nd it stayed down.鈥�
Unit-based pricing (often called 鈥減ay-as-you-throw鈥� or 鈥渟ave-as-you-throw鈥�) charges residents a set amount of money for each trash bag set out at the curb. The more trash you throw away, the more you pay.
At first mention, the concept doesn鈥檛 always go over well with residents. But Brown said it鈥檚 important to remember that trash collection isn鈥檛 free in the first place; it鈥檚 often paid for by taxes or through a homeowners association. And unit-based pricing can actually save residents and jurisdictions money while cutting down on waste, since under the standard system 鈥測ou鈥檙e not incentivized to throw away less.鈥�
Brown estimates about 2,000 municipalities in the U.S. use a unit-based pricing model, and it鈥檚 something leaders in the D.C. area are considering. There is a for the program in Montgomery County, Maryland, and D.C. is slated to start a fully funded .
Chris Weiss, executive director of the DC Environmental Network, helped to push for the District鈥檚 program. He said pay-as-you-throw forces participants to pay attention to what goes where and 鈥渆nhances composting programs and food waste programs.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 the base that you have to put in place to support a real zero-waste program,鈥� Weiss said.
D.C.鈥檚 Department of Public Works currently collects about of trash from the District鈥檚 105,000 single-family homes and small residential buildings each year; private haulers are responsible for collecting garbage from larger multi-unit buildings and businesses, which are aplenty in the city.
Along with trash reduction, most unit-based pricing programs also see an uptick in recycling. New Windsor鈥檚 recycling rates nearly doubled, from 21% to 38%, experts working on the project . Recycling in Natick, Massachusetts, increased by 20% after it implemented a pay-as-you-throw program, according to Brown鈥檚 research.
鈥淚 think what happens in a unit-based pricing program is, it鈥檚 the first real time that everyone reads the directions,鈥� Brown said 鈥� especially when it comes to what can be recycled and what should be thrown away.
Those who participate in pay-as-you-throw are more likely to donate clothes and furniture, and to take electronics, hazardous waste and larger household items to proper drop-off locations instead of throwing it all in the trash.
鈥淚 think most people say to themselves, 鈥業鈥檒l do that next week; I鈥檒l think about that next week.鈥� 鈥� But when you have that little price signal, you do it this week. And then you change your behavior because it鈥檚 really simple,鈥� Brown said.
There are some hurdles to implementing a pay-as-you-throw program, however 鈥� getting residents on board with change is a big one. Dye, New Windsor鈥檚 town manager, said locals were 鈥渟keptical and hesitant鈥� at first to the proposed pilot. He advises other municipalities to 鈥減lan for resistance鈥� when introducing the program.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 more of a perception that this costs more money to do. In reality, it costs less money to do, because an overall community, if they reduce their trash by 45%, that means their cost of disposal is down by 45%,鈥� said Brown, who added that many cities and towns funnel the savings into public programs such as fixing potholes or improving parks.
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance New Windsor will see an estimated $30,000 a year in savings from reduced disposal fees.
鈥淚t鈥檚 different, but it鈥檚 worth it because it always works,鈥� Brown said.
Changing the way we consume
Experts say unit-based pricing programs don’t just transform trash and recycling behaviors; they change the way people shop聽鈥� another key to cutting down on waste.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to bring into your house something that you鈥檙e going to have to pay to get rid of. And therefore, people change their purchasing habits,鈥� said Neil Seldman, co-founder of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
And experts say small changes 鈥� such as switching to reusable bags, composting food scraps and choosing products with less packaging 鈥� make a big difference.
鈥淛ust these tiny actions and decisions that we make every day at the store, in the kitchen, to be a little bit more sustainable, when really taken on a metro scale or a national or global scale is really powerful,鈥� said Adam Ortiz, director of Montgomery County鈥檚 Department of Environmental Protection.
In recent years, many cities and counties nationwide have also implemented taxes and bans to discourage single-use disposable items, such as plastic straws and plastic bags.
Cathy Plume, of the D.C. chapter of the Sierra Club, recalled the institution of D.C.’s plastic bag tax: 鈥淥vernight, you saw behavior change for a nickel 鈥� at the price of a nickel. All of a sudden, everyone was carrying their own bags and reusable bags here in D.C., and that movement really created an opportunity and a learning moment that other things could happen too,” she said.
Maryland just passed a on foam cups and containers, and Ortiz said he is looking at what can be done about other plastics that are not recyclable, particularly No. 6 plastics 鈥� the recycling code you see on the bottom of the product 鈥� 鈥渨hich are basically your fraternity-style red Solo cup.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to recycle, no question about it, but there鈥檚 just too much disposable material in our waste stream. And some of it gets captured in recycling, but too much of it ends up on the side of the road and in our local streams. So we are looking at more ways to curb products that are unhealthy in the environment,鈥� he said.
Policies such as these don’t just help to keep non-recyclable elements out of local waste streams and waterways; they also put pressure on companies to use more environmentally friendly materials when manufacturing and marketing their products.
A new shopping platform announced at the 2019 World Economic Forum, called Loop, would do away with disposable containers for everyday items such as shampoo and laundry detergent, which often come in large plastic bottles, and replace them with reusable containers, The Associated Press.
Local grocery chain MOM鈥檚 Organic Market offers a similar service, with bulk refill stations for household cleaners and detergents. It also bans plastic water bottles in its stores.
Seldman, from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, said such changes that favor reusable materials over single-use disposables are critical to making progress in waste diversion.
鈥淲e cannot recycle our way out of the plastic dilemma. … Once you have a piece of plastic, it is not going anywhere for 1,000 years,鈥� he said.
Major companies such as Starbucks and Hilton have also made moves to cut down on , and emerging businesses are finding innovative ways to reuse trashed materials in new products. The shoe company , for example, makes women鈥檚 flats and loafers out of plastic bottles.
鈥淲e see this as the trend: that the big corporations are getting it, that they have to be responsible,鈥� Seldman said. 鈥淎nd the entrepreneurial spirit is alive, and if something is banned, someone is ready to jump in and provide an alternative, which is a terrific thing.鈥�
However, Ortiz said, innovative and entrepreneurial spirit is needed across the board.
鈥淥n the government side, we end up cleaning up after everybody 鈥� cleaning up after a very disposable, consumer society 鈥� and quite frankly, it鈥檚 overwhelming,鈥� Ortiz said.
鈥淐orporations and manufacturers are a part of that. We need their help and we need them also to up their game and find ways to make more materials that are recyclable, are compostable and aren鈥檛 a burden on our environment.鈥�
Working toward the future
The nation鈥檚 capital and nearly every county in the D.C. area is working toward a 鈥渮ero-waste鈥� goal. A lot needs to happen to get there, but experts say it really isn鈥檛 out of reach.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to imagine that we鈥檙e going to be more wasteful in time, and that鈥檚 certainly the reaction that we鈥檙e getting from people, is they want less waste; they want to compost 鈥� we can鈥檛 keep up with the demand,鈥� Ortiz said.
鈥淥ur recycling centers are overwhelmed; we all have to expand. So that鈥檚 what people are expecting, and I think that鈥檚 what we鈥檒l see in the future.鈥�
Plume said D.C.鈥檚 waste-diversion rate, one of the worst in the region, won’t stay that way. And with recent changes in policy, plus pilots in the works, she expects to see that diversion rate improve sooner, rather than later.
鈥淲hen things look all doom and gloom, what鈥檚 happening in D.C. is actually quite positive,鈥� Plume said.
鈥淭he District is really quite progressive when it comes to what we鈥檙e looking to do for waste. There鈥檚 a lot of work to be done, but there鈥檚 a lot of good will and a lot of dedication to making things better.鈥�
