HOW TO CREDIT SOURCE REDUCTION: THE MARYLAND WAY

摘要

In the early 1990's, recycling coordinators and others in Maryland began to realize that pursuing source reduction (SR) efforts ran the risk of undermining efforts to increase recycling rates as calculated under the Maryland Recycling Act (MRA) of 1988. Specifically, solid waste and recycling managers who kept recyclables from entering the waste stream by emphasizing source reduction forfeited the opportunity to collect those recyclables and get recycling credit for their weight. This paper describes the process that took place through that decade to establish a mechanism to encourage source reduction activities by providing credit in the form of percentage points added to the recycling rate. This system offers a new model worthy of other states' consideration in structuring a source reduction incentive into their solid waste management goals.