A study that examined the impact of charging by weight for domestic waste in West Cork has shown that the households involved cut down their rubbish by nearly 50%.
The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) study found that after the introduction of the charges, waste collected fell by 45%, with the average reduction per household 433 kg per year.
Nearly two thirds of the 1,200 households questioned said that the new weight based charging were fair, and 80% said it was better than paying for waste through the tax system.
Previously a flat rate meant that putting out an extra kg of waste incurred no extra cost. With the new scheme though for every extra kg left out meant an extra 23 cent with a waiver for vulnerable households.
The ESRI said that over a fifth of households started recycling after the scheme began, and over two thirds said they would like to recycle more. Nearly half of homes had been recycling before the charges were introduced.
The study showed that a high rate of households do not realise burning their rubbish is illegal with 42% saying they burnt some of their waste, with a third burning more after the new charges.
Around 10% thought that following the charges the incidence of other people putting waste in their bin without permission had increased.
The ESRI concluded that charges by weight provide a strong incentive to reduce one's weight of rubbish and this result is in keeping with findings in other countries such as Denmark, the US and the Netherlands.
'Along with the plastic bag tax this scheme represents a success with applying the polluter pays principal in Ireland, because it targets the underlying issue directly', it said.
