Moving municipal solid waste planning to the next level, the role of user-pay as a municipal solid waste management tool

Abstract

One tool advocated in this practicum, among many possible tools, to help reduce solid waste generation uses behavioural interventions including economic incentives to encourage residents to reduce their household wasteload. This practicum examines why municipalities are having to explore alternative forms of funding mechanisms, environmental/conservation behavioural strategies, how traditional property tax financed and user-pay solid waste systems generally work, and provides a case study analysis of the potential impact of price preference on user-pay solid waste systems. The main focus is an investigation of critical cost variables for the City of Portage la Prairie's partial user-pay solid waste management system and how residential price preference plays a role in addressing those critical cost variables. Portage la Prairie adopted a partial user-pay program in 1995 in order to address the rising costs of solid waste management of the City. The establishment of stringent waste reduction targets and the tightening of Provincial environmental standards have contributed to the rising cost of providing solid waste services in Manitoba. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)