Waste prevention and Pay as You Throw, a collective case ... - lumes

Abstract:
Efforts to develop and enhance recycling and waste treatment facilities have improved in recent years, but still
have not managed to stabilize waste levels. Increased consumption and accompanied levels of waste have led
to an interest in waste prevention strategies. One such strategy for household waste is the implementation of a
weight‐based fee structure, or Pay As You Throw (PAYT). This policy makes households responsible for the
quantity of waste discarded and thus creates an incentive for increased recycling, composting, and ideally a
reduction in waste creation. This research looks at the application of PAYT in Sweden through a collective case
study; eight municipalities are examined for their strategies of adapting the policy to local conditions. This
project aims to further research on PAYT in the areas of illegal disposal threats, compost options, and longterm
adjustments to the policy. The project also examines how PAYT fits into a larger European Union policy
transition towards waste prevention. Results show that PAYT has the potential to adapt well to local
conditions, encourage waste reductions, and receive high acceptance from stakeholders, however, as a waste
prevention strategy only offers one piece of the puzzle, as waste levels for the sampled municipalities, after an
initial decrease, have continued to follow national trends of an overall increase.
Keywords: Municipal waste management, waste prevention, weight‐based fee, pay as you throw
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