4 ms·

The system probably works in cities and in particular areas that are relatively well-off. In other areas, I think it would encourage dumping. And what if you

The system probably works in cities and in particular areas that are relatively well-off. In other areas, I think it would encourage dumping. And what if you don't pay the trash bill? Do they cease picking it up? What if trash pickup was $20 a bag, what kind of behavior would that encourage? For some people $2 a bag is probably a similar impact to their budget as $20 a bag is to others. If anything, people should be paid for their garbage to be disposed of properly. Of course, this creates perverse incentives to put things in the garbage that don't belong there (such as going out of your way to throw out sticks, stones, what have you), but would most likely lead to the least amount of garbage being disposed of improperly. I imagine this could work on a deposit-basis similar to cans and bottles, but needs a more nuanced mechanism.

crankylinuxuser 7y ago
> What if trash pickup was $20 a bag, what kind of behavior would that encourage? https://mauitime.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/19.30.EhBrah-trash-dumping-ron-pitts.jpg https://mauitime.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/19.30.EhBrah... Remember, the free(illegal) solution makes the land worse off for all of us. In fact, I'd use this very idea as a reason this should be under general taxation and not taxed per bag. The game theory 'defect' solution is to dump.
jandrese 7y ago
> What if trash pickup was $20 a bag Does the term "illegal dumping" sound ominous to you? If you could somehow offset that charge by having a reasonable amount of well sorted and usable recycling then there's a chance it could work, but it's hard to see this not backfiring on the population at large. Any solution that has to fight against the "people are lazy assholes" truth is going to be difficult to implement, sometimes requiring an entire cultural shift to achieve. For what it is wroth, I have seen this work to an extent on the small scale. When I was young the county sold our trash service off to a private company. This private company required you to use the bags they provided to pick up the trash. They made these bags a hassle to acquire by only offering them at their office, which was way out in the middle of nowhere and only open one day a week for 4 hours. They were also fairly expensive. We managed, as an American family of 5, to only put out a single bag of trash a week, and this was in an area that didn't have recycling except for a "you bring it" aluminum can place. We did have a compost heap though, which isn't legal in some areas. My parents were very conscious of how much packaging was on anything before they bought it.
- linuxftw 7y ago
  > We managed, as an American family of 5, to only put out a single bag of trash a week, and this was in an area that didn't have recycling except for a "you bring it" aluminum can place. Unfortunately, the likelihood is that others in your area illegally dumped their trash, burned it, or are piling it up somewhere.

crankylinuxuser 7y ago

> What if trash pickup was $20 a bag, what kind of behavior would that encourage? https://mauitime.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/19.30.EhBrah-trash-dumping-ron-pitts.jpg https://mauitime.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/19.30.EhBrah... Remember, the free(illegal) solution makes the land worse off for all of us. In fact, I'd use this very idea as a reason this should be under general taxation and not taxed per bag. The game theory 'defect' solution is to dump.

jandrese 7y ago

> What if trash pickup was $20 a bag Does the term "illegal dumping" sound ominous to you? If you could somehow offset that charge by having a reasonable amount of well sorted and usable recycling then there's a chance it could work, but it's hard to see this not backfiring on the population at large. Any solution that has to fight against the "people are lazy assholes" truth is going to be difficult to implement, sometimes requiring an entire cultural shift to achieve. For what it is wroth, I have seen this work to an extent on the small scale. When I was young the county sold our trash service off to a private company. This private company required you to use the bags they provided to pick up the trash. They made these bags a hassle to acquire by only offering them at their office, which was way out in the middle of nowhere and only open one day a week for 4 hours. They were also fairly expensive. We managed, as an American family of 5, to only put out a single bag of trash a week, and this was in an area that didn't have recycling except for a "you bring it" aluminum can place. We did have a compost heap though, which isn't legal in some areas. My parents were very conscious of how much packaging was on anything before they bought it.

linuxftw 7y ago
> We managed, as an American family of 5, to only put out a single bag of trash a week, and this was in an area that didn't have recycling except for a "you bring it" aluminum can place. Unfortunately, the likelihood is that others in your area illegally dumped their trash, burned it, or are piling it up somewhere.