Would You Be Willing to Pay for Garbage Collection?

THE ENVIRONMENT: A POPULAR TOPIC

We all know that the environment is the subject of much talk.  Every day, we hear about recycling, the zero-waste movement, composting, plastic, our environmental footprint and the various methods that exist to reduce it.

The “Zero-Waste” Movement

Let’s touch on the “zero-waste” movement. Have you heard of it before? In short, this movement consists quite simply of reducing your trash output completely and eliminating waste. Zero waste is a good initiative to find a solution for the large quantities of waste produced by cities! The movement is based on the 5R premise:

• Refuse
• Reduce
• Reuse
• Recycle
• Rot

WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO PAY-as-you-throw if this program were implemented in your city?

You don’t have to go very far to observe this innovative solution in many municipalities, i.e., charging residents for the garbage they produce! Indeed, if you plan on moving to Beaconsfield, QC, you will need to pay to put out your garbage: this regulation was implemented in 2016. Did you know that because of this regulation, the municipality was able to reduce waste by as much as a quarter (26%) during the first four months of the year compared to the same period in 2015? Several cities in Europe and the United States have also adopted this initiative.

On the map below, we learn that 35% of Canadians would be willing to pay for garbage collection. Although young people talk a lot about the environment, baby boomers are significantly more likely (42%) to say they are willing to pay for such an initiative.

This Leger poll was conducted from April 7 to April 9, 2019, with a representative sample of 1,411 Canadians. The margin of error is 2.6%. *For comparison purposes, for a probability sample.