Save As You Throw!

Trash Free Maryland recently hosted a presentation on “Save As You Throw” by Kristen Brown of Waste Zero. Members of our advocacy coalition and others from communities around Maryland curious about how they could reduce waste disposal attended to learn more. You may have heard of “Save As You Throw (SAYT),” sometimes also called “Pay As You Throw (PAYT),” because it is an evidence-backed effective policy for reducing trash disposal in communities across the United States.

Save As You Throw is the application of unit-based pricing to trash collection and disposal. Unit based pricing simply means that if you throw away more trash, then you pay more, and if you throw away less trash, you save money on trash costs, similarly to how other utilities like water and electricity and gas service are charged. Trash is unique in that many communities still have a flat rate for trash. This means that people who recycle more and throw away less are subsidizing those who throw away more trash or do not recycle at all. SAYT programs can be one way to make trash collection and disposal charges more fair for everyone because you only pay for what you use.

SAYT has also been a proven effective way to reduce trash disposal by communities. Paying for the amount of trash you actually throw away incentivizes recycling and waste reduction behaviors while disincentivizing disposal. In some communities, SAYT has resulted not only in less trash disposal, but less waste overall, suggesting that increasing resident awareness of trash through the process of implementing SAYT may also encourage overall reductions in waste generation.

Why doesn’t every community use SAYT?

Although SAYT and PAYT have been around for decades, sometimes changing a system that works well enough to something new that can work better is just slow. Local officials also raise concerns about potential increased illegal dumping and equity considerations. Dumping does not typically increase following implementation of SAYT, possibly due to SAYT implementation being tied to ample residential education and raising awareness of options for trash disposal. Similarly, for some residents, including small households or fixed income seniors who do not generate a lot of waste, SAYT is a more fair system. There are also options to provide subsidies to households in need, similarly to how other utilities can have more affordable tiers or subsidies. SAYT is also easier to implement in a community that already has a trash fee that is separate from the general budget, simply because implementation can use a billing system that is already set up rather than creating a new billing system.

Kristen Brown shared the results of the recent adoption of SAYT in Greenbelt, MD, called Greenbelt FLEX by WZ. Read more about the program here. Early results have indicated high adoption rates and real reductions in trash volume. Opportunities to save money increase with additional recycling and organics composting access, encouraging behaviors that reduce waste, ultimately saving the community money in disposal and saving the environment from polluting emissions from disposal facilities like landfills or incinerators.

Other Maryland jurisdictions that are serious about reducing trash disposal are also exploring SAYT. Montgomery County has a pilot SAYT program underway in select communities. Read more and follow the results of Montgomery County’s SAYT pilot program here.

Read more on the US Environmental Protection Agency website here.

We’re excited to follow these and other SAYT pilot programs and their environmental results in Maryland.