To promote separation of wastes for recycling, more
than 4,000 communities in the United States use a payas-
you-throw or fee-per-bag waste collection system. It
charges households and businesses for the amount of
mixed waste picked up, but does not charge for pickup
of materials separated for recycling or reuse. In the U.S.
city of Ft. Worth, Texas, the proportion of households
recycling went from 21% to 85% when such a system
was implemented. And the city went from losing
$600,000 in its recycling program to making $1 million
a year because of increased sales of recycled materials
to industries.