The Policy Learning Platform organised an online matchmaking on 22 June, for the Municipality of Burgas in Bulgaria, on the topic of waste management models and in particular a Pay-As-You-Throw system (PAYT) scheme.
The moderation and concept of this event are signed by Astrid Severin and Marco Citelli, our environment and resource efficiency thematic experts.
Peers from across Europe
Alongside our Thematic experts, brilliant peers were invited and participated to the matchmaking:
- Teresa Guerrero Bertran, Head of Separate Collection Promotion at Waste Management Agency of Catalunya (Spain)
- Gemma Nohales Duarte, Technical Expert for Separate Collection Promotion at Regional Waste Management Agency of Catalunya (Spain)
- Francesco Lembo, Managing Director at Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management, ACR+, Brussels (Belgium)
- Eva Gijsegom, Project Officer for Waste Management Networks, Interafval / VVSG, Flanders (Belgium)
Objectives of the meeting
- To discuss options for the design of a 'pay-as-you-throw' (PAYT) scheme that could be implemented by the Municipality of Burgas (Bulgaria) to improve its separate waste collection performance, supplementing other measures to move towards a more sustainable waste management system.
Key takeaways
- PAYT schemes are a key component of a wider set of measures to improve waste management. They are generally applied to tax the collection of residual fractions primarily to promote waste sorting and higher recycling rates, reduce residual waste and possibly home composting. They are crucial to determine the evolution of waste collection systems.
- Data from the peers show that wherever PAYT schemes are applied the average quantities of residual waste decrease and the collection rates of separate fractions increase substantially,thereby reducing the amounts of waste that is disposed off (e.g. landfilled, incinerated) and increasing recycling and reuse.
- PAYT schemes normally foresee two elements. A fix charge based on the number of components of a household and a variable fee that may be determined either by the volume or weight of residual waste collected as well as by the quantity of bags being collected or their collection frequency.
Explore all the key takeaways and the peers' recommendations in the report.
Some key practices identified
Interreg Europe projects:
- WINPOL, PAYT in Argentona: this good practice outlines how the Municipality of Argentona (Catalunia, Spain) introduced a DtD collection system in 2004 and is applying a PAYT scheme since 2010 based on the use of prepaid standard bags both for households and commercial activities.
Other relevant good practices on PAYT schemes can also be found in the Interreg Europe Good Practices database, such as:
- WINPOL, PAYT (Pay As You Throw) to reach 80% recycling: this good practice illustrates how the Municipality of Seveso (Lombardy, Italy) was able to dramatically increase its separate waste collection rate thanks to the introduction of a PAYT scheme.
