[centimeter]

I can't stand stuff like that. There's no way the actual negative externality of a small bag of trash is $2. If I lived in a place with a ridiculous rule like that, I would be more inclined to protest the rule by dumping illegally than going along with it.

Trash disposal here is great; free unlimited household trash disposal if you drive it to a dump, with only larger things like tires and mattresses costing money (but a very reasonable amount, like $2/tire).

[huhtenberg]

Swiss trash bag fees pay for garbage collection and improvements to the recycling infrastructure. They aren't meant to offset the damage to the Earth or some abstract puffery like that.

[blt]

Paying by the bag is good. In the USA, if you live in a detached house there's normally a fixed price to get a large barrel collected weekly. The barrel is large enough to hold a week's trash from a family of four who puts no effort into reducing trash output. If you live alone and are conscious about generating trash, you get ripped off.

[sonotmyname]

> In the USA

Hold up.. This not only varies by state, but by county and city. Some places have this built in to special assessments on property taxes, some contract with a trash company that collects fees directly, and some are a bit of a free for all with multiple trash companies providing pickup and or/dumpster service (this is more common in rural areas).

I had a place up in the mountains where we had to buy special $6 trash bags and haul it to a central dumpster ourselves, and there are those in large cities who have to deal with mob-run collection companies who bribe local politicians for monopoly rights.

TLDR; To generalize "In the USA" for something like this is impossible.

[blt]

True, I should have said "in places I have lived in the USA".

[ska]

If you want every negative externality to be precisely captured by a fee, you will be paying fees all day long.

One approach is to capture a number of related issues in one fee at a natural point of contact that is easy to measure. It's not a crazy idea.

[satellite2]

They open non taxed bag looking for letters with your name on it and send you a fine if they find it.

[VLM]

Its the strange intersection of conspicuous consumption and virtue signaling. Only we are good enough people and wealthy enough to pay a bizarre tax.