Pay as you throw Strengths and weaknesses of weight-based billing in household waste collection systems in Sweden

Householders' response to weight-based billing for the collection of household waste was investigated with the aim of providing decision support for waste management policies. Three questions were addressed: How much and what kind of information on weight-based billing is discernible in generic Swedish waste collection statistics? Why do local authorities implement weight-based billing, and how do they perceive the results? and, Which strengths and weaknesses of weight-based billing have been observed on the local level? The study showed that municipalities with pay-by-weight schemes collected 20% less household waste per capita than other municipalities. Surprisingly, no part of this difference could be explained by higher recycling rates. Nevertheless, the majority of waste management professionals were convinced that recycling had increased as a result of the billing system. A number of contradicting strengths and weaknesses of weight-based billing were revealed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.