Pay-ss-you-throw trash policy cuts solid waste disposal

DURHAM — Towns that have implemented pay-as-you-throw and other user fee-based pricing policies to reduce municipal solid waste have seen a substantial reduction in trash disposal rates, some by more than 50 percent, according to new research from the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of New Hampshire.

“Households respond to economic incentives. With unit-based pricing, the cost to the household may increase to dispose of trash, but the incentive to recycle is greater,” said experiment station researcher John Halstead, professor of natural resources and the environment.