Revolutionising Waste Management: The Power of Pay-As-You-Throw

PAYT flips the traditional waste management model on its head. Instead of distributing costs based on fixed metrics like floor area, it recharges the waste costs to the tenants in a way that creates accountability and encourages improvement: those who generate more waste contribute more, and those who generate less, save. It’s a concept that not only promotes sustainability but also drives behavioural change.

PAYT programmes have proven highly effective in waste management, both in commercial and municipal contexts across the globe, driving behavioural changes that reduce waste generation (up to 35%), increase recycling rates, and provide financial savings. By incentivising tenants and residents, these programmes encourage more recycling and less disposal, showcasing the power of data-driven models for creating sustainable and equitable waste management solutions.

For too long, waste-related costs in shared buildings have been distributed using broad measures like square footage. While this may be simple, it’s far from equitable. Consider a scenario where one tenant produces only a small amount of general waste but recycles large quantities of valuable materials like cardboard and plastic, while another generates significant amounts of unsorted waste. Under the traditional model, both might pay the same per square metre, regardless of their actual impact.

This imbalance doesn’t just feel unfair—it actively discourages tenants from adopting more sustainable practices. PAYT changes this by tying costs to real behaviour. Tenants pay for what they actually throw away, providing an incentive to reduce waste and sort it properly.

Data: The Key to Fairness and Sustainability

PAYT wouldn’t be possible without accurate, tenant-level waste data. This is where the Carrot Platform comes in. By providing granular insights into who throws what, our technology enables landlords, tenants, and other stakeholders to understand waste patterns like never before. This level of detail builds trust in the data, a critical step for implementing PAYT successfully.

For commercial buildings, the stakes are high. Without accurate data, waste often becomes a blind spot—something included in shared costs and forgotten. But with real insights, clarity emerges. Tenants who recycle effectively or generate minimal waste aren’t subsidising others. Instead, costs are redistributed fairly, creating transparency and fostering accountability.

One of the most exciting aspects of PAYT is its ability to influence behaviour. When tenants see a direct connection between their waste habits and their costs, they’re more likely to reduce waste and recycle properly. It’s a virtuous cycle: less waste, lower costs, and a smaller environmental footprint.

Early adopters of PAYT are already seeing the shift in mindset this model creates. Tenants become more mindful of their actions, and property managers can engage them in meaningful conversations about sustainability. In a world where businesses are competing to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability, having accurate data on waste can make all the difference.

While PAYT is particularly relevant for commercial buildings, its potential extends far beyond that. In fact, we’re already seeing this concept applied in residential contexts, where municipalities are taking bold steps to align waste management costs with actual behaviours. This approach has proven to be a powerful driver of sustainability, creating systems where waste isn’t just disposed of—it’s managed thoughtfully and responsibly.

By incentivising better sorting habits and reducing waste at the source, PAYT demonstrates its ability to engage individuals and communities in meaningful change. It’s a model with the potential to transform waste management across sectors, creating ripple effects that benefit everyone involved.

Implementing PAYT requires boldness and trust in the data. It’s not an easy shift, but the potential rewards—both environmental and economic—are worth the effort. At Carrot, we’re proud to support our customers as they take these first daring steps toward a fairer, more sustainable future.

In fact, several of Carrot’s larger UK clients are already positioning themselves to introduce PAYT in the coming months. As they grow familiar with the data and build confidence in its accuracy, they’re beginning to trust it as a foundation for shaping decision-making and cost distribution.

PAYT isn’t just about waste; it’s about equity, innovation, and responsibility. It’s about creating systems that reward better behaviour and challenge the status quo. And most importantly, it’s about taking another step toward closing the circularity gap, one bin at a time.

In this article, we look at how Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) is revolutionising waste management in commercial buildings and beyond. By leveraging data to align waste costs with actual behaviours, PAYT provides a smarter, fairer approach to sustainability.

Imagine this: A bustling commercial building where tenants and cleaners are actively engaged in reducing waste. Recycling bins are filled with precision, and waste is disposed of with intention. Sounds ideal, right? The good news is that this isn’t just a vision of the future—it’s a possibility, thanks to the concept of “Pay-As-You-Throw” (PAYT).

Pay-As-You-Throw in Waste Management: A Smarter, Fairer Future

In the words of Cyrus Annan, centre manager at West One:
- We’re very impressed with what Carrot has achieved in other retail sites. Combined with Churchill’s track record of innovation and sustainability, we’re confident that this platform will have a very positive impact at West One.

A big shoutout to West One for embracing new technologies – we are excited to see what we can help you achieve together with Churchill Group!✨

Read more about today's go-live on 

We’re thrilled to team up withChurchill Group to tackle waste reduction at West One Shopping Centre in London. Through this collaboration, we’re turning insights into action – optimising waste management, increasing recycling rates, and paving the way for a greener future where sustainable behaviour is the easy choice!🌿

We’re thrilled to team up with Churchill Group to tackle waste reduction at West One Shopping Centre in London. Through this collaboration, we’re turning insights into action – optimising waste management, increasing recycling rates, and paving the way for a greener future where sustainable behaviour is the easy choice!

Partnering up for a sustainable future at West One Shopping Centre!

 In Jack Sibley's words, Carrot helps King's Cross incentivise its occupiers to improve and become more sustainable: "By using Carrot, King's Cross can offer commercial occupiers a self-service option to access their waste data for reporting purposes, as well as personalised waste anaytics and anonymised leaderboards to incentivise performance"

Our collaboration with King's Cross N1C is shortlisted for the Data Excellence Award as part of the UK PropTech Awards, which is hosted by UK PropTech Association (UKPA) this week. 

The “Data Excellence” award celebrates collaborative achievements between property and PropTech organisations in leveraging data to drive innovation, efficiency, and strategic decision-making in the real estate sector. This award recognises partnerships that have excelled in data collection, analysis, and application, leading to enhanced business outcomes and the creation of new value within the industry.

Our collaboration with King's Cross N1C is shortlisted for the Data Excellence Award as part of the UK PropTech Awards. The “Data Excellence” award celebrates collaborative achievements between property and PropTech organisations in leveraging data to drive innovation, efficiency, and strategic decision-making in the real estate sector

"By using Carrot, King's Cross can offer commercial occupiers a self-service option to access their waste data for reporting purposes, as well as personalised waste anaytics and anonymised leaderboards to incentivise performance" Jack Sibley in Related Argent, says.

A few weeks ago, you could read a feature article in The Economist about Related Argent's impressive redevelopment of King's Cross in London, with the compelling lead "If Britain has a future, it's there". Carrot recently onboarded King's Cross, and we couldn't be more proud to be supporting one of the UK's absolute flagship destinations and its commercial occupiers on the topic of waste data.

If Britain has a future, Carrot is part of it!

The lack of data is one of the main reasons we have yet to solve the world’s 2 billion tonne waste problem. But what do we mean by that?

Commercial properties, for instance, have different recycling systems that facilitate waste sorting. Plastic and cardboard waste may be sorted in separate containers, and some have solutions for handling food waste. But as soon as a resident throws something in one of the containers, we lose valuable information that could be used to reward and encourage increased recycling efforts.

Who threw the waste? How much did it weigh? Answers to questions like these are lost in a 

Collecting and systemizing data about waste gives us what we at Carrot call “circularity data.” Circularity data is all the information that tells us something about what was thrown, how much it was, and who threw it. The term derives from what is made possible through this data - 

enabling of more resources to become circular.

We can do amazing things when we have a current overview of available resources, whether it’s at a business-, building-, or household level. What’s unique about circularity data is that it allows us to take action 

 resources become waste and loses its value.

An increasing number of companies use recycled materials to produce their products and are willing to pay for stable access to this resource. Circularity data provides an overview of how much of a resource is available at a given time, laying the foundation for new sources of revenue for companies that possess clean waste fractions.

 that 70% of textile waste could be fiber-to-fiber recycled, but today only 1% is. Their analysis shows that the circular textile industry - once matured - could have a profit pool of between €1.5 and €2.2 billion. Circularity data can play a vital role in enabling circularity in the textile industry.  Carrot can track the 

how much textile waste will be available at any given time

 by nudging behavior, thereby opening the door to new business opportunities and income sources for its owner.

#2 We can target action to improve sorting and reduce waste

Circularity data gives us an overview of how much we produce of different types of waste, making it possible to identify areas of improvement. For instance, if we notice an increase in the amount of waste produced at a specific time - be it a specific day of the week or a seasonal occurrence - we can use this information to investigate the cause and target follow-up actions to create a change. If a business premise offers variable rental fees based on waste, improvement can reduce your company’s costs.

#3 We can measure the environmental impact - and reduce it

A complete overview of your business's waste makes it possible to measure your environmental footprint. By connecting various data sources, Carrot can compare and create reports linked to recycling rates across branches, buildings, or other company-specific segments.  This makes it easier to track the environmental impact of waste generated by your company, comply with sustainability reporting requirements, and use this information to make better decisions.

At a shopping mall in Bergen, some tenants were able to 

 after implementing Carrot. Through information and incentives for better sorting, employees handling waste were made aware of the impact of their own efforts.

While handling waste is undeniably linked to financial costs, it is also linked to environmental costs. Wasting resources that could have found their way back into the system have enormous ramifications for our planet, as it means we have to extract more resources unnecessarily.

Circularity data is all information about what type of waste was thrown, how much it was, and who threw it. For businesses, it offers a great number of benefits. 

Want to learn more?

What is circularity data, and how does it benefit your business?

Coffee grounds are a mushroom’s best friend

Did you know that Norwegians drink 13 million cups of coffee every day*? And where coffee is drunk, huge amounts of coffee grounds are produced. And wasted.

Coffee grounds provide the perfect substrate for growing oyster mushrooms. The substrate is the material the mushroom grows in, and the reason is that the 

, the vegetative part of the mushroom that consists of a mass of branching, is able to feed off the nutritious coffee grounds.

Hella Sopperi, a local producer of oyster mushrooms in Bergen, needs large amounts of fresh coffee grounds for its production. Since the coffee grounds used for growing need to be fresh and because it all too often ends up as waste in the bin, the producer is reliant on a solid overview of available grounds. They are also dependent on creating awareness with the employees in shops that produce a lot of coffee grounds. 

310 kilos of coffee grounds are produced at Vestkanten Storsenter

. Together with Carrot, Hella has started a pilot project collecting all the grounds from producers of the valuable resource at Vestkanten Storsenter. 

Psst! Did you know that coffee grounds can also be used to create clothes and other materials such as soap? 

Our software collects data about what resources are available for reuse, recycling, or repurposing. In this series of articles, we explore the journeys of resources we help back to the cycle.

Blog

Pay-As-You-Throw in Waste Management: A Smarter, Fairer Future

Partnering up for a sustainable future at West One Shopping Centre!

If Britain has a future, Carrot is part of it!

What is circularity data, and how does it benefit your business?

From waste to resource: Coffee grounds to freshly grown oyster mushrooms ☕️