The Carroll Standard

Maine Town Cuts Trash in Half With Zero Waste Trash Metering

SANFORD, Maine – Sanford, Maine, has cut its trash – and its trash bills – in half.

One month after implementing the WasteZero Trash Metering System that asks residents to pay by the bag for curbside trash collection, Sanford officials say residents have responded by reducing the amount of trash they throw away by more than 50 percent. The town's recycling rate, meanwhile, has more than doubled.

"The first month of Pay-As-You-Throw has been an unqualified success," said Sanford Town Manager Mark Green. "Both the increase in recycling and decrease in trash have exceeded our projections."

Sanford’s 50 percent reduction in trash tonnage translates to a 50 percent savings in the tipping fees paid to unload trash at the Maine Energy Recovery Company (MERC) in Biddeford. Officials say that, at the current rate, the town will save $250,000 to $275,000 in tipping fees over a year, which doesn't take into account an anticipated increase in tipping fees of 20 percent in January, 2011.

Recycling in Sanford, which was well below the state average, has soared 150 percent with the WasteZero System. It's been "a huge success," says Public Works Director Charles Andreson. "We're very, very, very pleased with the amount of energy folks have put in [to the program]."

Town officials say the "compliance rate" is at nearly 100 percent. "Our citizens seem to be accepting and supportive of this new system of waste management, and that’s the most important thing," said Green.

"What an accomplishment for Sanford," said WasteZero President Mark Dancy. "Hundreds of thousands in town savings, a boon to the environment, and Sanford residents now have a fair way to pay for trash."

Trash Metering, also known as pay-as-you-throw, user pay, unit-based pricing, and SMART (Save Money and Reduce Trash), is recognized as the leading solution to both environmental and fiscal exigencies by a rapidly growing number of US municipalities, resulting in a 40 percent growth in programs since 2000. Sanford joins the more than 150 towns and cities in Maine that have made the switch to Trash Metering. Nationwide, there are more than 7,100 Trash Metering communities. The U.S. EPA has called on cities to adopt Trash Metering, calling it "the single most effective way to reduce residential solid waste, increase recycling, and decrease waste-related greenhouse gas emissions."