Do you recycle?  Do you pay for trash pcikup?  If so you may be
interested.  We have been recycling for years, and we notice that
on trash day we tended to put out a little bitty bag of trash
but our neighbors put out tons.  Living in Pittsfield Twp., we 
pay for trash pickup, about $12/mo.  Well it started getting on
mu nerves that we were subsidizing our neighbors trash pickup.

Well a friend of mine had the same thought and he looked into it
and found that Mr. Rubbish has a pay-by-the bag system where you
buy the bags for $1.80 each and that's how you pay for trash pickup.
We've been doing that for a couple of years.  We fill a bag about
once a month.  So instead of paying $12.00+ (I don't even know what
the price is up to lately) we pay < $2.00 per month.  It's nice to 
be financially rewarded for doing the right thing.

In my opinion this would be the best way to encourage recycling, by using
market forces.  The more trash you make, the more you pay.  Unfortunately,
this also encourages the unscrupulous to illegal dumping.

What do you all think?

16 responses total.

I'm glad that Ypsi township has both trash pickup and recycling.
That way people are encouraged to recycle (and it's very convenient).

I suppose you could say that I'm paying (through taxes) to remove
other people's trash, but it's worth it to not find trash left
somewhere because someone didn't want to pay to have it removed.

I like the idea myself.  People should pay their fair share for trash
removal.  Those that trash more, pay more.

At last count, we had something like 7 recycle bins in the garage.  We
even collect juice continers, egg cartons, take-out containers, etc. and
give them to the local pre-school for use in their art areas.  We put out
our garbage can about once a month.  Not bad for a family of four.  We
also have a compost bin that takes yard and kitchen waste and one car,
six bikes and a push mower on a 1/4 acre lot in A^2.  No, we don't get
much for our $300+ a month in taxes.  That's life.

I should add that we have a chipper/shreader which gets a fair amount
of use grinding branches and whatever else can be ground up for the 
garden.

   I like the idea of paying for things as they're used, but in
the case of garbage, won't a lot of people just find ways to 
dump things by the side of the road or other inappropriate places?
It seems to me that I've seen a lot more random crud by roads
these days, espically on Platt out to Milan.  I wonder how many
people get sticker shock when they find out how much it costs
to dump a couch, such that they let it out somewhere at night.
Then of course, we all pay to have it removed and put in the
proper place.  So because of that I have to wonder if its really
in everyones best interests to say that everyone should pay
for only what they'll use.

That's right, Steve.  I guess that's the way it is with anything
of value.  The greater the positive value, the greater the tendency
to steal or obtain by illicit means.  I guess as landfills get full
and the cost of disposal goes up, trash grows in its negative value.
The greater its negative value, the greater the temptation to 
"un-steal" (ie illegally dump) it.
It seems to me that the only workable way to reduce trash flow
is to have market forces work in that direction ie higher cost of
disposal. How to inhibit illegal dumping, I don't know the answer.
I guess it's a easy crime to get away with, and can't rank high on
the enforecment priority.  Interesting
w3??n21[v{e+[qC95W&?ese1{7Eev.%8j(sorry, noise) discussion.

"You can get anything you want..."

I think Lansing, MI has been using the pay by the bag system
for years.  I recall my sister having to buy City of Lansing
garbage bags to pay for her trash pick up.  If the bags aren't
in those bags, the City doesn't pick them up.  As far as I know
it works.  I don't know how much the bags cost though.

When people pay by the bag is there a tendancy to over-pack
a bag so it breaks?

Whoever said that people are motivated to crime by incentive and disincentive
hit the nail right on the head.  I believe that the legislatures and police
are motivated by the same things.....  Question: Rape and robbery are serious
crimes against society.  Why don't we have a police force dedicag these crimes?
 Parking violations are relatively minor offenses yet we have special police in
Ann Arbor (and in most cities) with their own captain, their own cars, even a
special court of their own.  We have a ploice force dedicated to fighting
random acts of senseless parking, but A2 police won't even pick up a shoplifter
downtown unless they've stolen more than $500 in merchandise! Answer:  There's
money in parking enforcement.  So how do we get the police to enforce no
dumping laws?  Big fines!  Charge people by the pound for their garbage, and
levy BIG fines against those that are caught dumping..... Use the money we've
taken to clean up the mess of the people we didn't catch.  Leave about 10% as a
slush fund for the local politicians and you'll never see a law enforced so
vigorously!  It'll seem like Singapore!!!! lol Enforcement is just a question
of attaching the right incentive for the right people to the law.......

This response has been erased.

val, lol means "Laugh out loud". 

Andrew, the reason that cities have "special parking police" is that they 
don't have to pay them or train them as much as a full-fledged, gun-toten
officer.

Nancy Stone at the Ann Arbor Solid Waste Department can send you out a copy
of a long list (which I put together over the years) of ways to eliminate junk
mail, including resident/occupant/our friend at.  Eliminate the source.  You
can also buy food in 25 or 50 pound bags (buying coops, food coop, Fireside
Store), get your news electronically (including radio), and purchase (or find)
only used clothing, furniture, bikes, etc.  We take in more trash than we put
out and fix it if needed, then find it a home.  Kroger's claims to recycle
plastic bags.  We refuse to buy anything packaged in styrofoam.  That leaves
a bit of cellophane and things from the trash that we could not fix, to put
out every couple of months.  (Unfortunately the projects keep coming in faster
than they go out - anybody out there want a few stereo receivers that only
get AM?).

keesan, you don't happen to live on Huron, just south of
Revena, do you?  There is a house there that I kind of watch
on garbage day.  They have living a low-residue lifestyle
down pat.

no, but I will keep an eye on that house.  Thanks.

I'm not too sure if this will solve the problem, or just accomplish making
people more annoyed that things cost so much, but I have always wondered about
the idea of putting a deposit on *EVERYTHING* that is commonly disposed of,
this means things like 7-11 cups, prewrapped foods, and anything that uses
more packaging than it needs. If this hits you too hard in the wallet, you
are more than welcome to save it all up and return it to a depot, but on the
other hand, you're more than welcome to pay some homeless guy to come along
and pick it up for you, just like you do when you throw away cans, bottles,
etc. Of course this won't stop the problem in areas where there are not a lot
of homeless people/people willing to go pick it up, but it will go a long ways
to cleaning the garbage up in most inner city parks. Also, it would open the
door for small businesses to make a living driving around picking up garbage
on the sides of roads, parks, and many other locations. Speaking from
experience, some people are very nice and put all their bottles and cans into
a bag and place it by the garbage, knowing that someone will wander through
their alley and pick them up, at very least these people might further the
recycling by giving it to someone who is willing to sort it and take it back
to a depot. 

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