trash
Austin, Texas has Pay as You Throw. We also have single stream curbside recycling.
Pay as you throw means that the city issued every household a city-owned trash can, and bougt a new fleet of garbage truck that pick up these trash cans and dump their contents. This was at a tremedous cost to the city, and pretty much put private trash cans out of business. the did reduce the garbage trudk crew from 2 to 3, but there was no net savings (see below). I now have a trash can with a City of Austin serial nmuber on it.
The city issues three sizes of trash cans, and you pay based on the size of your can. The city requires that your trash can be closed, and will not pick up any bagged trash not in the can unless it has a $2 sticker on it. Can someone get a small can and put their trash in their neighbor's can? I guess, as long as the neighbors' trash can isn't full and you don't get caught. Still you would only save about $3 a month. People in my neighborhood are not so callous; I don't worry about that. I have a medium sized can, and rarely fill it completely.
Recyling?
Again, we have COA issued serial numbered recyling bins and a COA issued s/n recycling trash can, and a new fleet of recycling trucks that have a robot arm to pick up the recylcing can and dump its contents into the truck, again at a cost of millions of dollars. I guess they took that third person from the garbage truck and put him in the recylcing truck so there was not net savings in pick-up personnel costs. We also had to lease recycling storage facilities, hire sorting personnel to sort paper, plastic, metal, etc, and find a way to transport the recycled materials.
The City of Austin loses millions of dollars a year on our recycling program, paid for by the taxpayers and homeowners in Austin (people who actually work for a living), but we're GREEEEN.
Personally, I hate throwin away someting that can be reused. I love recycling. Before the city instituted this program, I save all my cans, cardboard, paper and ceral boxes, and took it to a private recycler in my pickup, whereupon they would pay me for my efforts. The COA has now denied me this "beer money" (I don't drink beer).
I hate going to fast food places, especially the Austin only places, that serve their food and drink in recyclable materials but don't provide a way to recycle them. WTH? Freebird's goes through tons of aluminum foil, and it all goes into the garbage.
