[fortran77]

We do pay for trash here, explictly. It's not "free", but I think every houshold is mandated to pay for some level of trash service as a form of a tax. You can pay more for larger bins, etc.

If we charged too much, it would encourage hoarding, wouldn't it?

[UweSchmidt]

If trash was expensive and cover the true externalities, we might more long-lasting products that are easy to disassemble, repair and recycle.

Maybe it's the general crappiness, the planned obsolescence in everything that makes us hold on to all sorts of "spare parts". Back in the day when producing items was hard, a wardrobe would be handed down through multiple generations. Hoarding wasn't feasible but also not necessary.

[benj111]

It would encourage fly tipping.