Over 40 years ago, the Plantation City Council and Mayor looked into ways to better serve the waste collection needs and requirements of our community. With that in mind, a Pay As You Throw (PAYT) or “blue bag” system for solid waste collection was introduced.
Purchasing the bags at Plantation Publix, Winn Dixie or Walmart stores, is how you pay for your monthly garbage service. The amount you pay on your monthly utility bill, combined with a portion of the cost of the blue City bags, is the total cost of your garbage collection service, bulk pick-up, and recycling. (As a point of information, blue bag costs dropped significantly on October 1, 2016.) We now offer a smaller kitchen-sized bag at a lower cost.
This system was chosen for several reasons.
First, it is more equitable than using trash bins. The system is set up so that you only pay for the trash you generate. For example: a single-person household may only use one bag per week, versus a family of four that may use two per week. Other cities charge a flat fee regardless of how much trash you generate or how large your household is.
Second, it is more aesthetically pleasing. Once the bags have been picked up, there are no unsightly trash bins lying along the street until someone comes home from work (or worse, home from vacation after a week away) to pick them up.
While Plantation’s solid waste system is unique to Broward County, over 7,000 communities around the United States use the PAYT system for their solid waste and recycling.
