UNIT PRICING SCHEME FOR MUNICIPAL WASTE - EXPERIENCE AND DISCUSSION

In North America, a large majority of municipalities finance their waste management activities with a fixed annual fee. However, an increasing number of these municipalities is now using a unit pricing scheme for municipal waste. In this paper, we survey the principal characteristics of these schemes and show that they have had a significant impact on waste production, recycling and source reduction activities. Furthermore, we suggest that unit pricing of municipal waste can be adapted in response to criticisms.