As the Town of Sanford considers a new proposal to reduce waste and increase recycling, we hope residents will be open to the options ”“ or get busy recycling.

The town is waiting on a preliminary proposal for a program where residents would pay for trash bags upfront and later be reimbursed by WasteZero, an environmental services and consulting firm that has worked with municipalities for more than 20 years.

Although this particular program would be the first in the nation, WasteZero has worked with cities and towns all over the country to develop systems to reduce waste, increase recycling and save municipalities money, according to the company’s website. WasteZero’s partner communities have generated more than $200 million in avoided disposal costs and fees, according to the site.

Sanford repealed a pay-as-you-throw trash disposal system about a year and a half ago, despite increases in recycling ”“ and a reduction in waste sent to Maine Energy Recovery Company’s Biddeford incinerator ”“ that had resulted from it.

This new proposal, which is in the preliminary stages, should be considered on its own merits and not be shut down before residents hear the details.

The cost of waste disposal is on the rise, and if the price of gasoline continues on its current trend, the cost to transport trash is likely to continue rising as well. Every item that is recycled instead of being thrown in the regular trash saves a municipality money that would go toward tipping fees to companies like MERC.

Recycling also helps the environment ”“ beyond just reducing the amount dumped in landfills. Recyclable materials can be reused in a myriad of ways and reduce the amount of oil and other natural resources going into new products, as well as the energy it takes to create new products. According to a report by National Geographic, it takes 95 percent less energy to make a can from recycled aluminum than from virgin bauxite ore.

It would be great if residents like those in Sanford would just recycle all that they could on their own, but the numbers show that isn’t happening. For the short time pay-as-you-throw was in place in Sanford, town officials reported a spike in the recycling rate ”“ to nearly 40 percent. The rate has not quite dropped to pre-pay-as-you-throw levels, but as of January, it was at 23 percent.

It often takes financial incentives to motivate Americans to do things like recycle. That’s why Maine and other “bottle bill” states have such high rates of redeeming returnable cans and bottles, while states without the deposit system have bottles and cans littering their roadways. According to the Natural Resources Council of Maine, in the 10 states with bottle bills, the beverage container recycling rates average 80 percent. In all other states, the beverage container recycling rate is below 25 percent.

This new proposal in Sanford would reward those who recycle, much like the returnables system we have in place statewide. Those who recycle would get the funds they spend on trash bags back.

While the program is not final, the proposal would be to have residents purchase special trash bags for household waste, and then Waste Zero would escrow the money. The financial equivalent of the average number of bags used by a household would periodically be returned to residents. Residents would all receive that average amount back. Residents who use more trash bags than the average, though, would get back less than they spent.

If Sanford residents do not want to see this proposal come to light ”“ or others like it in the future ”“ we have a suggestion: Recycle more!

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Today’s editorial was written by City Editor Robyn Burnham on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.