Rethinking Pay-As-You-Throw: A Data-Driven Approach

PAYT is about more than charging - it starts with better data.

Commercial waste is often charged by volume, not by what businesses actually generate. It’s simple to operate, but this approach provides little incentive to reduce waste or improve recycling.

The bigger issue, however, is data.

In many collection systems, household and commercial waste are collected on the same vehicle. By the time the load reaches the treatment facility, it is often recorded as a single tonnage, making it difficult to distinguish accurately between the two waste streams.

This creates challenges for local authorities and service providers:

• Recycling performance is harder to measure accurately.

• Duty-of-care reporting becomes less robust.

• Charging models are based on estimates rather than evidence.

• It becomes difficult to demonstrate whether policies are actually delivering better outcomes.

A data-driven Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) approach can help address these challenges by capturing weight and material data at the point of collection and linking it to the relevant waste producer.

The benefits go well beyond fairer charging:

• Greater transparency: producers know exactly what they generate, while authorities can accurately report household and commercial waste separately.

• Better incentives: charging can be linked to actual waste generated, encouraging waste prevention

• Higher recycling rates: when residual waste carries a direct cost, recycling becomes more attractive.

• Stronger compliance and reporting: better data supports regulatory compliance, ESG reporting and more informed decision-making.

At KEO, we help clients evaluate and implement these approaches by:

• assessing volume-, weight- and hybrid-based charging models;

• developing business cases for on-vehicle weighing and digital data capture;

• designing payment and performance mechanisms;

• improving the separation and reporting of commercial and household waste data; and

• developing KPIs and dashboards that turn collection data into meaningful performance information.

Our experience spans the UK, Ireland, Europe and the Middle East, combining regulatory expertise with practical experience of how waste collection systems work.

As more authorities review their commercial waste services, better data may prove just as important as better charging models.

How is your organization addressing the challenge of measuring commercial waste accurately?

Meet the Author

Cristina Harber, Regional Manager

KEO's Sustainability + Environment Division