During the May 20th City of Gainesville commission meeting the commissioners voted unanimously to reverse their decision to direct staff to initiative a flat fee for single-family resident’s trash collection. Because of this decision, PAYT is still the trash system for single-family residents in Gainesville.

Pay-As-You-Throw is a trash collection system for single family residents that uses variable size carts or bags corresponding with variable fees (smallest cart or bag is the lowest cost). This system is similar to utilities, where a consumer is charged for the amount of energy or water used in the household. The goal is to encourage the household to reduce the amount of trash generated and reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost more. It is also known as unit-based pricing and these types of volume-based structures create an economic incentive to reduce trash generation.

The City Commission will be convening a special meeting after the summer recess to discuss the details of our local PAYT system. Zero Waste Gainesville wants to keep our PAYT system and will encourage city staff and commissioner to improve it. We want education and outreach community wide on the basic components of PAYT. We also want our PAYT system to be equitable, which may include waivers for those who qualify, PAYT violation updates, and targeted outreach when a violation occurs. Please email zerowastegainesville@gmail.com if you want to be added to our newsletter list to keep up to date on this issue and all issues related to Zero Waste in Gainesville.

The Proposed Zero Waste Strategy Report is available to read and review and we encourage all Gainesville and Alachua County residents to give input as stakeholders. You can find the report here. On June 14th, Gus Olmos, Alachua County Interim Solid Waste and Resource Recovery Director will present this report at the Join Water and Climate Policy Board. Please email your stakeholder feedback to Michael Heimbach (HeimbachMJ@cityofgainesville.org) or Gus Olmos (gus@alachuacounty.us).

Thank you!

REMEMBER: Let’s Reduce Waste and Prevent Plastic Pollution.

By Amanda Waddle
email: zerowastegainesville@gmail.com