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

collections and fortnightly kerbside collections of garden waste for every resident,
with residents encouraged to recycle due to the Pay-As-You-Throw system in place for
residual waste. 649 The current required list of materials for which collection provision
must be made includes cans, paper and card, glass, used motor oil and garden or
‘yard’ waste.
New Jersey (USA)
The state of New Jersey was the first state in the USA to require that local authorities
provide mandatory recycling services for all households, businesses and institutions.
In 1987, the New Jersey Statewide Mandatory Source Separation and Recycling Act
came into force, with householders in New Jersey also obliged to recycle leaves, and
at least three of the following materials: paper, metal, glass, plastic containers and
food waste.
In order to help finance this Act, the tax on landfilled waste was also increased almost
fourfold, yielding a State Recycling Fund intended to support the county recycling
systems within New Jersey. This fund expired in 1996, and has only recently been
replaced by the Recycling Enhancement Act in 2008 – re-establishing a source of
funding for recycling with a $3 per ton (1.02 tonnes) tax on solid waste for disposal,
though such a small tax will not provide sufficient funding to fully compensate
mandatory recycling schemes.
34.3 Key Organisations Involved in Implementation and
Management
For the majority of countries listed in Section 34.2.1.1, the local local local government
government is
charged with the implementation and management of the recycling collection system.
In addition, in the majority of countries, the producer producer producer also plays a key role in the
delivery of separate collection systems, because these systems are frequently linked
to the requirement to recycle packaging material e.g. the Packaging Directive. The
producer role is typically predominantly financial in nature, though in Sweden the
producer is required to design, provide and fund all collection systems for packaging
wastes. The system appears to work well when the producers and municipalities
support each other – for example, in Austria, although the legal obligation under the
Ordinance is only for packaging recycling, there is an agreement between the
country’s green dot scheme coordinator ARA and the municipalities that ARA will also
support the collection of other types of, for example, paper and cardboard than just
the packaging portion.
In the Netherlands, the decision was made to leave the recyclables collection function
in the hands of the local government, since the municipal collection infrastructure
presented the strongest opportunities to achieve recycling targets. It was also felt that
having competitive industry-led collection schemes might make life more confusing
for the public, thereby reducing response rates. Hence in the Netherlands, local
649 Office of Sustainable Development, City of Portland (2008) Administrative Rules, Residential Solid
Waste & Recycling, available at http://www.portlandonline.com/osd/index.cfm?a=217303&c=41472
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