[GreenYes] Availability Fees for Financing Commercial Recycling Programs

["Blair Pollock" <bpollock@co.orange.nc.us>]

Our County is evaluating use of availability fees as a mechanism for financing recycling. We can make a straightforward cost of service/number of units calculation of the cost of residential curbisde recycling and multifamily recycling. It is when we get to commercial that it's tricky due to the variations in levels of service as a function of waste generation intensity, etc.

We don't want to have a cumbersome number of categories/fees as we are a small county (125,000) with a small commercial sector. but we need to create some system equity. A further problem is the secondary data typically available from a tax office would usually show only the property owner of, say a multi tenant mall not the individual businesses that could vary widely in size, waste generation intensity, etc.

Any ideas about calculating fees based on a projected future weekly commercial recycling service would be appreciated esp. insight into which secondary variables best predict recycling service needs, e.g. square footage, number of employees, type of business. Thanks. Peace/ BP


__________________________________________________
Blair Pollock
Solid Waste Programs Manager
(919) 968-2788
fax: (919) 932-2900
PO Box 17177
Chapel Hill, NC 27516-7177

******************************************
To post to the greenyes list,
email to: greenyes@grrn.org

subscription, faq and netiquette info for
this list are available here:
http://greenyes.grrn.org/
Please be sure to read the faq and netiquette
pages before posting.
******************************************