Decatur not expecting scarcity of Pay-As-You Throw bags

If anyone faces issues or frustrations finding the bags, call the City of Decatur Public Works Department at (404) 377-5571 or email sanitation@decaturga.com.

A number of residents have asked why Pay-As-You Throw continues during the pandemic. Last month City Manager Andrea Arnold told the AJC that “The cost of those bags cover the city’s cost when we pay [DeKalb County] to use their landfill. We’re continuing to pay the county, so that’s a revenue we need to receive.”

Decatur started its recycling program in the early 1990s, but as Arnold points out, with traditional garbage bags there was no economic incentive to recycle. The city’s solution was the Pay-As-You-Throw program, implemented in July 1998.

“With this program,” she said, “where you purchase these bags that are more expensive [than typical bags], it forces you to make a decision. The more trash bags you fill, or the more you send to the landfill, the more you have to pay.

“It also created some economic equity,” she added, “because now a family of five, for instance, pays more than one person. Before [pay as you throw] they paid the same amount for disposal, no matter the family size.”