On this page:
Description:
Thursday, May 21, 2015 from 1:00pm - 2:30pm EST
Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) remains a successful (and rapidly growing!) strategy for encouraging recycling, composting, and source reduction. This practice has made inroads into communities and states across the nation. This webinar provides a summary of EPA Region IX's recently completed PAYT Grant. The project researched "hot topics" in PAYT and provided direct technical assistance to communities in Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam. The research on PAYT topics included: Growth in PAYT; PAYT performance and cost-effectiveness compared to other incentives; Optimal PAYT rate design; Addressing Small Hauler issues with PAYT; Rural PAYT; PAYT in the Multifamily and Commercial Sectors; and other topics. Learn from a new PAYT community, Kauai County about the process of adopting PAYT and the latest research on Multifamily and Rural PAYT. Materials and resources that can be useful to other communities considering PAYT will be shared. An extended question and answer session is an important part of this webinar.
Video: Pay-As-You Throw: Growth & Opportunity for Sustainable Materials Management Exit
Speakers:
Dr. Lisa Skumatz is the nationwide expert on PAYT. She is an economist and heads the research and consulting firm, Skumatz Economic Research Associates (SERA), and the non-profit Econservation Institute (EI). Lisa brings more than 34 years of experience in quantitative solid waste research, and focuses on PAYT, program design and evaluation / performance, social marketing and outreach, and policy analysis. She has helped communities as small as 500 up to some of the largest cities in the US on PAYT feasibility, design, and rates. She brings real-world data to all her work and maintains a database of programs, costs, and tons from more than 1000 communities and focuses on identifying defensible and transferable lessons for communities across North America. Her extensive body of work on PAYT is widely-cited, and she has published more than 150 articles in solid waste in trade journals, conference proceedings, and peer-reviewed journals. Lisa has received two nationwide lifetime achievement awards for her work (NRC, SWANA). Dr. Skumatz holds a BA from the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, and MA and Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University. She holds a certificate in Sustainability Leadership and Implementation (University of Denver) and is a former graduate faculty member at the University of Colorado-Denver. She is active on several boards, including NRC and Colorado Chapters of SWANA. Contact: Skumatz@serainc.com, 303/494-1178, skumatz@econservvationinstitute.org, 866/758-6289.
Dana D’Souza: is a research analyst with the Econservation Institute and SERA, and in seven years in the industry, she has conducted detailed PAYT and solid waste work for communities in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii, Arizona, Minnesota, New York, California, and elsewhere. Dana has interviewed PAYT communities around the country, and conducted "best practices" work on PAYT, food waste, residential and commercial recycling, and social marketing programs at the nationwide level. She has helped write zero waste plans, conducted detailed waste composition and set out studies, facilitated focus groups, and other solid waste assignments. She is managing very large projects in the Northeast including surveys of hundreds of households and businesses on mercury thermostat recycling. Dana is a co-author of multiple articles in Resource Recycling, and has presented work at national and regional conferences. She holds a B.A. International Business, San Diego State. Contact: dsouza@serainc.com - 303/494-1178.
Dawn BeMent has been a research analyst with SERA, Inc. and the Econservation Institute for 9 years. She has conducted PAYT rate studies and PAYT "best practices" research for clients across North America, and she has managed the PAYT Program Inventory project for several years, studying patterns in PAYT growth by state, region, and type. Dawn has conducted detailed analysis of commercial programs, identifying gaps and opportunities to increase recycling and composting in this sector. For EPA, she helped conduct a detailed inventory of food waste programs across the country. She interviewed schools programs to identify decision-making and "success" factors. She has researched composting markets and facility capacity for clients at the local and regional level, and analyzed feedstock assumptions and risks for biomass facilities in the Northeast. She has conducted both quantitative surveys and detailed case study research for solid waste programs like every other week collection, municipal vs. hauler collection, program incentives and funding options, and other topics. Ms. BeMent has a B.S. in Cellular Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, and a degree in Plant Science from Howard Community College, Columbia, MD. Contact: bement@serainc.com - 303/494-1178.
Juri Freeman, Recycling Program Manager, City and County of Denver, Colorado - Mr. Freeman’s responsibilities include managing the residential recycling and composting programs, Denver public school recycling programs, and City facility recycling for this City of 650,000 – services that are delivered entirely by city collection staff, and designed / overseen by City staff. In prior work as a consultant, Mr. Freeman has conducted research on nearly every aspect of solid waste and recycling systems, and had a particular focus on PAYT. He headed a project for EPA on food waste programs, conducted work on social marketing for the State of Colorado, developed zero waste plans for counties a, conducted market research and compost feedstock studies and conducted work on PAYT for cities and counties across the US. Mr. Freeman received his BS in Environmental Science and a minor in Economics from Bucknell University in Lewisburg PA. He currently serves as the Treasurer for the Colorado Association for Recycling as well as serving on the National Recycling Coalition Board of Directors and the Boulder County Resource Conservation Advisory Board. He has presented papers at major state and national recycling conferences, and publishes regularly in Resource Recycling and other publications. Contact: juri.freeman@denvergov.org - 303/446-3404.
Allison Fraley is the Kaua’i County Solid Waste Programs Coordinator. Allison has 20 years of experience in waste diversion. She has a master’s degree in environmental psychology, and studied the factors that influence recycling behavior. She got her start in California, where she worked for Ecology Action, an environmental consultancy. Allison was hired as Kauai’s first Recycling Coordinator in 2000. In her tenure at the County, Allison has gained support to further develop existing waste diversion programs, implement new programs, and increase staffing, which has resulted in doubling the County’s recycling rate over the past decade. She serves as the deputy of the County’s Solid Waste Division and oversees all waste diversion programs, supervises the billing section, coordinates public relations, and assists with the management of operations and administrative functions. Contact: afraley@kauai.gov - 808/241-4837.
Slides:
You may need a PDF reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA’s About PDF page to learn more.-
Pay-As-You Throw: Growth & Opportunity for Sustainable Materials Management (PDF) (PDF)(3 pp, 270 K)
Webinar Slide Introduction
-
Pay-As-You Throw/Variable Rates for Trash Collection (PDF) (PDF)(103 pp, 3 MB)
Dr. Skumatz webinar slide presentation