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

The above line of thinking led the County to believe that it could readily explain
around 35% of the drop in residual waste, but that the remaining reduction
demanded closer examination. The County considered the possibilities for legitimate
and illegitimate changes in behaviour which could explain the ‘unexplained’ reduction
in residual waste. As regards legitimate routes, the following were considered:
1. A reduction in the amount of inert building / DIY waste generated;
2. A change in the use of nappies from disposables to re-usables. Statistics and
compositional analysis suggest a reduction from 9.4kg/average-inhabitant before
the scheme to 7kg/average-inhabitant after implementation; and
3. Consumer choices. Some evidence suggests that consumers are changing
consumption habits to reduce the quantity of packaging and / or waste generated.
The illegitimate disposal routes are discussed in Section 9.11.
9.6 Implementation Costs
For the local competent authorities the shift to a pay-per-volume system has a –
sometimes considerable – cost saving effect. For example after changing to the payper-volume
system, the county Gießen has saved costs estimated at €1.3 million per
year. The investment costs required for a district or county to change to this waste
charge system are effectively more than balanced by the reduction in the quantities
of residual waste, and constraint on total waste. 198
The levels of the fees (and the corresponding cost savings) differ from county to
county. 199 The differences result from varying utilisation of waste disposal facility
capacities as well as the population in the local municipal authorities.
In the Schweinfurt scheme, although collections are only offered fortnightly, for
several bin types the set out rate is close to 50% (i.e. for many householders bins are
being set out approximately once a month). Interestingly, the set out rate tends to be
lower for those using smaller bins. For those using larger bins, the materials tend to
be collected approximately once every three weeks. This change in set out rates has
led to reduced staffing levels. The materials are collected on vehicles, and the prescheme
situation, in which vehicles were operated with a driver plus one crew, has
changed such that they now operate as driver only side-loading vehicles.
9.7 Effects on Technical Change / Innovation
The policy stimulates sophisticated collection and recycling systems for multi material
waste fractions. This needs to include provision for centralised food waste
composting or anaerobic digestion. Furthermore, new technologies are brought onto
198 See www.uni-giessen.de/ilr/gaeth/projekte/pro_gebuehrensystem/pro_gebuehrensystem.html; the
introduction of the flexible pay per volume system in the county Gießen was scientifically attended by a
university project at the University Gießen.
199 EUWID from 23.08.2005, p. 11.
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