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Unit-Based Pricing in the United States: A Tally of Communities

Highlights
This 1999 report presents data on the adoption of unit-based pricing programs, or PAYT, for residential solid waste management in communities throughout the United States. At the time of its publication, the report tallied 4,032 communities employing unit-based pricing programs.

Also included in the report is information on the number of communities by state and the number of communities adopting unit pricing by year. While this tally is not comprehensive, it represents a data gathering effort that involves contacting municipal, county, and state-level solid waste and recycling administrators, as well as private haulers. In addition, trade journals and the academic literature on unit pricing were reviewed.

For several states, the total number of unit pricing communities is a known underestimate; a lag exists in the time between community adoption of unit-based fees and delivery of this information to central data sites. Information about about PAYT communities will be added to this site as it is made available to EPA.

To access the community tally, go to the map of PAYT State 1999 or PAYT State 2006. Click on any state to view the cities and towns with unit-based pricing. Information provided includes the year unit pricing began, the type of fee structure utilized, and the container type used. Fee structure is defined as either fully variable, multi-tier, or additional base tax. With fully variable pricing, households pay for each can/bag set out. These programs typically incorporate fixed costs into the variable rate by basing the unit fee on estimated average costs. With a multi-tier system, the estimated fixed costs of collection and a basic level of service are financed by a flat fee or through taxes. Residents pay variable fees for incremental service levels above the base level. Similar to the multi-tier system, an additional base tax system involves a flat fee to cover estimated fixed costs of collection. However, residents do not receive a base level of service, and a variable rate covers all trash containers set out.

Population and number of households are derived from the 1990 census. For some communities, particularly unincorporated towns, census data were unavailable. Information on all program characteristics was not consistently available. Only 33 percent of the communities were able to identify the year of program implementation. Another 30 percent of communities did not know precisely when their program started, but reported instead the earliest year their programs were known to be in operation; start dates for these communities are indicated by the notation "pre-<year>" (for example, pre-1991). Approximately 37 percent of the communities either did not know or did not provide the year in which their unit pricing programs began.

Overviews of these data are also available. Table 1 presents a matrix indicating the number of communities using unit-based pricing in each state. States for which the total number of unit pricing communities are a known underestimate include Pennsylvania, Maine, California, New York, and Ohio. The scope of this research precluded the followup needed to get more complete data for each of these states.

Table 2 presents the total number of unit pricing programs by year of adoption as well as demographic information on these communities. This table, which chronicles the number of communities adopting unit fees for each year from 1990 through 1998, offers a preliminary understanding of the adoption of unit pricing programs. As with the community tally, however, information on program startups was frequently lacking. For communities unable to provide dates of implementation, the date in the table reads "pre-<year>." 1990 census figures on the total population and households represented by these communities are included in this table as well; however, population and household statistics are not estimates of the population participating in unit pricing programs. In most communities, unit pricing programs include single family up to quadraplex residences or a portion there of, while the census data are a count of total households.

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Table 1.
Tally of the Number of Communities in Each State Using Unit-Based Pricing for Residential Waste Management
Source: Unit-Based Pricing in the United States: A Tally of Communities, M.L. Mirando, Duke University, 1999.
State Unit Pricing Communities State Unit Pricing Communities
Alaska 1 Nevada 1
Arizona 3 New Hampshire 35
Arkansas 53 New Jersey 47
California 100 New Mexico 1
Colorado 6 New York 167
Connecticut 9 North Carolina 38
Delaware 12 North Dakota 1
Florida 6 Ohio 68
Georgia 18 Oklahoma 2
Idaho 20 Oregon 159
Illinois 49 Pennsylvania 213
Indiana 47 Rhode Island 6
Iowa 160 South Carolina 11
Kansas 1 South Dakota 1
Louisiana 1 Tennessee 1
Maine 76 Texas 8
Maryland 4 Utah 2
Massachusetts 101 Virginia 8
Michigan 29 Vermont 88
Minnesota 1,843 Washington 249
Missouri 10 West Virginia 3
Montana 3 Wisconsin 465
Nebraska 10    

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Table 2.
Number of Communities Adopting Unit-Based Pricing Programs by Year and Corresponding Data on Population and Number of Households
Source: Unit-Based Pricing in the United States: A Tally of Communities, M.L. Mirando, Duke University, 1999.
Start Date Number of Communities Total Population1 Average Population2 Total Households Average Households Cumulative Population
No information 1,5423 9,577,935 6,330 2,528,386 1,691 9,577,935
Pre-1986 129 4,065,945 32,015 1,615803 12,723 13,643,880
1986 10 138,841 13,884 54,583 5,458 13,782,721
1987 16 202,280 13,485 69,887 4,659 13,985,001
1988 67 222,700 3,324 82,045 1,225 14,207,701
Pre-1989 8 64,432 8,554 26,886 3,361 14,272,133
1989 76 294,800 3,931 693 1,516 14,566,933
Pre-1990 504 1,800,301 3,572 660,985 1,311 16,367,234
1990 148 1,009,288 6,913 376,260 2,577 17,376,522
Pre-1991 56 935,336 16,702 358,911 6,409 18,311,858
1991 311 1,825,443 5,908 673,926 2,181 20,137,301
Pre-1992 160 632,274 4,133 248,946 1,627 20,769,575
1992 219 2,299,215 11,671 837,283 4,272 23,068,790
Pre-1993 174 760,901 4,726 292,099 1,826 23,838,864
1993 209 1,955,005 9,874 690,528 3,488 25,793,869
Pre-1994 20 58,277 3,067 20,475 1,078 25,852,146
1994 169 1,006,533 6,063 336,391 2,039 26,858,679
Pre-1995 7 90,856 12,979 30,780 4,397 26,949,535
1995 1444 2,018,190 14,840 791,619 5,821 28,967,725
1996 30 4,497,670 155,092 1,594,721 54,990 33,465,395
1997 22 1,149,839 54,754 460,356 21,922 34,615,234
1998 10 12,935 1,377 4,786 532 34,628,169
1999 2 417,462 208,731 265,961 132,981 35,049,091
Totals/Averages 4,033 35,049,091 8,918 12,138,948 3,105  
1 1990 census data is available from http//venus.census.gov/cdrom/lookup for all communities except unincorporated areas.

2 Averages do not take into account communities for which data are missing.

3 Minnesota communities comprise 86% of this group (or 1140 communities). A Minnesota statute requires pricing by weight or volume as a condition for receiving a license for solid waste collection (exemptions are possible); this statute went into effect January 1994.

4 Includes 33 Wisconsin communities where unit pricing start date was anytime in the years 1993 through 1995.

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