International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

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� In the absence of a kerbside recycling service, pay by weight will still facilitate
waste reduction; one administrative area without kerbside recycling showed a
reduction in the waste going to landfill of 39%;
� Stage 1 of the study found that the only local authority area which does not
have a kerbside recycling service has the fifth highest total waste presentation
rate per person in the country. The Local Authority area with the lowest rate of
waste presentation, offers kerbside recycling collections on a weekly basis
throughout its functional area; and
Negative Impacts of the Policy in relation to pollution prevention
� The 2006 report finds that the number of households stating that they
engaged in burning was alarming and the numbers increasing this activity
under the new price regime more so;
� The systems for monitoring illegal diversion of household waste are not well
developed. The answer to the question of the link between the introduction of
Pay by Use and rates of illegal disposal of household waste is inconclusive.
Stage 2 of the study, including case studies, found that just less than half of
the 30 interviewees experienced increases in illegal diversion of waste
following the implementation of PBU.
The detail of the data for the Cork County Council experience provided in the work for
the Welsh Assembly Government is not sufficient to allow detailed assessment of the
effects of the operated pay by weight schemes. A reduction in kerbside collected
waste occurred between 2005 and 2006, though it is not clear whether this is due to
genuine waste prevention, diversion of waste to civic amenity sites, or illegal activity
such as backyard burning. Total waste collected in the county fell by 3%, but it is not
apparent how many households were using the collection services (whether Council
or private contractor provided). The data suggests that kerbside recycling rates in the
County have improved over the duration within which weight based charging has been
introduced. Percentage recycling rates for contractor provided services (of which the
suggestion is that some may have switched to weight based charging in recent times)
increased from 22% to 26% between 2005 and 2006, and the recycling rate for local
authority services increased from 15-22%. However, the degree to which this may be
an effect of the weight based charge is not clear as other service changes occurred
during this time (additional kerbside recycling services) and there is an admission
that contamination of recycling bins by residual waste was observed.
7.6.1 Benefits of Pay by Use Policy in Relation to Prevention
As mentioned in the previous section the Local Authorities which implement a PBU
system have found there is a decrease of (residual) waste presentation rates. This
finding could indicate that PBU charges have reduced waste presentation rates in
Ireland on a nationwide level. It has not been possible to determine whether this
translates into a genuine impact on waste prevention in the Irish case as the data in
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes