Taxing garbage

What would happen if we put a really high tax on garbage. Not recyclables, not reusables, not composted organics, but garbage that is burnt or taken to landfills. “Waste.”

If we had a significantly high enough tax on garbage produced, then there is a very big incentive to 1) produce things that can be reconfigured into a resource input at the end of its life cycle, and 2) figure out ways to make sure current garbage is reused. Add on incentives to figure out how to reduce the amount of garbage that was already produced (resource ‘mining’ from landfills), then we’re really encouraging a close loop system.

What is preventing us from taxing garbage like we tax petrol? What is preventing us from taxing garbage higher than petrol? What are the barriers and conflicts?

A quick google search:

Pay-As-You-Go Garbage Tax: weighing garbage bins

http://www.ecogeek.org/monitoring-pollution/293

Hong Kong mulls garbage tax to tackle waste problem

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/global-observer/hong-kong-mulls-garbage-tax-to-tackle-waste-problem/2724

Both articles talk about consumer side control though.

The main idea shouldn’t be to focus on taxing consumer/normal resident produced garbage. It would be to target industries. Might as well start the closed loop system at the producer end, rather than the consumer end.

I really should look into Industrial ecology more.