Using Pay-As-You-Throw to Bring Curbside Recycling

When the city of Waterville, ME began PAYT, it chose to use some of the proceeds to fund a curb-side single-stream recycling collection program that residents had been clamoring for.  At the six-month mark, the program was exceeding all of its waste reduction and financial targets.  At the one-year mark, the city conducted a referendum (which had been promised at the program’s launch), to determine whether to keep the program in place.  Residents voted to keep the PAYT program by a 2-to-1 margin!