Can Taxes Increase Recycling Rates?

Can Taxes Increase Recycling Rates?

The use of taxation to influence behavior in the "free marketplace" has a very long track record. They are sort of like using economic sanctions at the international level to force the compliance of "rogue" nations. When a consumer wantonly tosses water bottles, aluminum cans and paper into the regular waste stream, they are impacting the well-being and bottom line of their neighbors and acting as a community rogue.

Taxation is more often applied to businesses to get them in compliance with recycling initiatives, after being asked nicely and then usually somehow bribed. Consumers are also subject to taxation, usually in the form of higher rubbish disposal rates or even with a small fee or imposed on certain items, such as plastic bags, cans or bottles.

Does it work? It works far better than most people would like to believe. Doing the "right thing" for the community or one's self is rarely as powerful a motivator as a nagging, little fee. Recycling rates for plastic bags in one recent taxation scheme climbed from less than 10% to well over 90% in he span of a few months.

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