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WasteZero is a privately held company working with US cities, towns, and counties to reduce their volumes of municipal solid waste (MSW) and to increase recycling. The company’s stated mission is to “cut the trash in half,” or to ultimately reduce the annual volume of US residential solid waste by 50% or more.

The company’s primary method for reducing municipal waste is by helping cities create and implement “next-generation” pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) programs, also known as unit-based or variable-rate pricing programs for disposing of MSW. Many variations of the PAYT concept exist, and all require that residents pay for trash collection based on how much trash they throw away (as opposed to all households paying the same flat fee or property tax for the service). This creates an economic incentive to recycle more and generate less waste. With PAYT programs, recycling services are often provided at no cost, incentivizing recycling further.

WasteZero Trash Metering™
The company refers to its version of PAYT as a WasteZero Trash Metering™ program. With this program, rather than pay a fixed fee for trash collection, residents purchase from local retailers only as many of the official, municipality-approved trash bags as they need. The town or city will only collect trash that is in the approved bags, which are priced at levels that encourage residents to minimize their use and to divert more of their waste stream into recycling. Those residents who use fewer bags (and recycle more) will pay less. Those residents who use more bags will pay more.

Programs
WasteZero offers counties, cities, and towns a range of products and services to design, implement, and run its waste reduction programs. These include


 * Manufacturing the municipality's trash and/or recycling bags
 * Managing bag inventory
 * Distributing the bags to local grocery stores and other retailers, enabling residents to purchase them
 * Managing program-related billing, accounting, and reporting
 * Providing program communications support, such as toll-free information lines, program websites, and educational materials for residents

Supplies
In addition to helping establish and run WasteZero Trash Metering™ programs, the company manufactures plastic bags for a variety of customers and has been doing so since 1991. At that time it was founded solely to produce plastic bags using recycled content. Since then, it has expanded its manufacturing capabilities and dramatically broadened its mission. WasteZero’s manufacturing plant is located in Hemingway, SC and is known for its ability to produce plastic bags with a range of attributes:


 * Drawstring or twist tie
 * Custom colored, custom printed
 * Made with recycled content
 * Manufactured using three-ply coextrusion

Program Benefits
According to WasteZero’s analysis of its own programs implemented over the past 16 years, WasteZero Trash Metering™ reduces residential solid waste tonnage by 44% or more. These reductions are often accompanied by substantial increases in recycling volumes. Comparatively, on average, traditional PAYT programs in their various forms (variable rate carts, tag-based programs, overflow programs, etc.) reduce residential solid waste tonnage by less than 20%. WasteZero says that its programs can provide a range of potential benefits to municipalities, such as:


 * Disposal savings in reduced tipping fees
 * Increased revenue from the sale of recyclable materials
 * Operational cost savings
 * Extended landfill lifespan
 * Reduced CO2 emissions and additional environmental benefits
 * Enhanced job creation through increased recycling

Customers
The company serves approximately 800 customers in the US, most of which are municipalities, and some in Canada. Its presence is primarily concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, with an emerging presence in the Southeast.

Offices and Leadership
WasteZero’s US locations include:


 * Raleigh, NC: Headquarters
 * Hemingway, SC: Manufacturing Plant
 * Cambridge, MA: Sales Office
 * Chicago, IL: Sales Office
 * Murrells Inlet, SC: Sales Office

The executive leadership team includes:


 * John Campbell, Chairman
 * Ann Campbell, Board Member
 * Mark Dancy, President
 * Michael O’Donnell, Chief Financial Officer
 * Craig Dunkley, SVP, Sales and Marketing / Chief Marketing Officer