Thursday, January 21, 2010

Taxing Trash


Another glamorous day in the life of a green meeting planning team! When the UUA General Assembly planning team went to Minneapolis on a site, they didn't stop at the typical "wine and dining front of the house" experience. Oh no, they were thorough and even went on a tour of the Waste Management "Recycle America" plant. I am always harping about how important it is to make sure the recycling effort is actually happening and this group really did their homework.

While on the tour they learned in Minnesota there's an incentive to recycle. It seems Minnesota has state and county taxation of trash which heavilyy incentivizes recycling. In fact in some counties, commercial customers pay up to 53% tax on non-recyclables!! The base residential rate is 9.75%.

Now there is a business case for green meeting practices!

No comments: