Credit: Nick Starichenko/Shutterstock
New York City is moving forward with a plan to shift the financial burden of garbage collection from taxpayers to ratepayers.
The Big Apple has hired consulting and research firm Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) to study options for a pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) billing and collection service structure.
America’s largest city uses tax revenues to pay to collect and ship garbage out of the city. As a result, garbage service feels free to many households. A PAYT program, which the city is calling “save as you throw,” would give households financial incentive to move materials from their garbage to recycling. Households would pay a rate for garbage service, with larger garbage volumes costing them more.
Details on how such a program would work in a city dominated by renters in apartment buildings have yet to be determined.
CBS New York reported the New York Department of Sanitation (DSNY) recently held a public hearing on the $1 million contract with RRS. The contract was approved.
Resource Recycling reported in June 2017 DSNY was exploring a PAYT system, among other changes aimed at boosting the city’s recycling rate.
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