This spring citizens in Waterville sent a resounding message when they voted by a margin of nearly two to one to uphold the city’s Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) waste management program.
Waterville’s PAYT program launched in September 2014 and has exceeded all expectations and the city’s waste reduction targets. City Officials say the PAYT program, in combination with the new single stream recycling system adopted in July have reduced the amount of trash the city handles by 55 percent. Original predictions were between 40 and 45 percent.
Waterville City Manager Michael Roy said that a repeal of the PAYT program would have meant the city would have had to come up with another $430,000. This is the amount of money Waterville is currently saving with their new PAYT program.
To learn more about Pay-as-you-throw programs and the possibility of introducing this idea in your town, visit the NRCM toolkit or contact Sarah Lakeman, NRCM Sustainable Maine Project Director at slakeman@nrcm.org.
Our sustainability radar is always on, and we love to share. Do you have information about a great project helping to make Maine a more sustainable place to call home that you would like to see featured on NRCM’s blog? Guest posts and alerts about interesting sustainability stories are always welcome! If it is good news for our environment and involves Maine or Mainers, it belongs in the spotlight. Please contact Sarah Lakeman, NRCM Sustainable Maine Project Director at slakeman@nrcm.org or (207) 430-0170 or Ryan Parker, NRCM Environmental Policy Outreach Coordinator at rparker@nrcm.org or (207) 430-0144.
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