Question

6. (0, 5, or 10) A few years ago we became aware that disposable diapers were a major item being put into U.S. landfills. Some communities discussed banning disposable diapers from their landfills. There were protests from parents groups whose members found disposable much more convenient than cloth diapers. Rationally evaluate this policy from both the community environmentalists and the parents groups’ viewpoints. (cost/benefit on both sides of the issue)

7. (0, 5, or 10) A community planning on charging a fee for trash pickup might structure the fee in any of several ways. It might, for example charge a fixed amount per can, an amount per pound of garbage, or a flat fee per month regardless of the amount of garbage.

a) How would each of these affect the amount and type of garbage produced?

b) Which system would lead to increase in the use of trash compactors?

c) Which would lead to the most garbage?

Answer 1

Q1-Necessity is the mother of invention. Humans needed more convenience, thus the creation of disposable diapers and the shift from cloth nappies. Banning them while good for the environment, did not do well with the human need for convenience. Lets look at the cost of benefits for all the shareholders-

Environmentalists

Benefits- Decrease human wastage

Decrease the number of resources used

Awareness towards the issue of the use of non biodegradable products

Preservation of nature

Costs- Pressure from companies and parents

Parents

Benefits- Decrease in carbon footprint

Cloth diapers are considered to be softer on the skin

Lesser trip to the supermarket

Cost effective

Reusable

Cost- Some argue that it is not sanitary enough

Time consuming

Q2 a- Let’s look at all the options one by one

- Fixed amount per can-In this case there might be an affect of the kind of garbage produced based on size. People will try to fit in a lot into one can. The garbage amount and kind may remain the same but the size of it might change. This will in a way incentivise people to reduce their waste.

- A certain amount per pound of garbage- This will most certainly make people put thought into how much garbage they produce. Edible waste might remain the same, but with other kinds of waste, people will try to choose recycling, selling etc as another option.

- A flat fee- This will not bring about any change in the kind of amount of garbage produced. People might even protest against this but a flat fee will not change how people produce garbage as they have no incentive to reduce it.

b- According to me option b (A certain amount per pound of garbage) would bring about an increase in the use of trash compactors. This system will make first of all make people want to produce less garbage and it will also make them look at other ways of waste disposable. For example if a family wants to throw away a chair, they wouldn’t just throw it out, they will either resell it, upcycle it or recycle it.

c- Option c (A flat fee) would lead to the most amount of garbage. As the fee remains fixed even with an increase or decrease in garbage people have no incentive to do anything. They have to pay a certain price any way so they won’t take any action to decrease it and might as well increase it as they have to pay some fee anyway.