Wasteful waste-reducing policies? The impact of waste reduction policy instruments on collection and processing costs of municipal solid waste

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2011.02.021

Abstract: We study the impact of some local policies aimed at municipal solid waste (MSW) reduction on the cost efficiency of MSW collection and disposal. We explicitly account for differences between municipalities in background conditions by using a bootstrapped version of the Data Envelopment Analysis methodology in combination with a matching technique. Using data on 299 municipalities in Flanders, Belgium, for the year 2003, our results indicate that municipalities that are member of a waste collection joint venture, or that subscribe to a voluntary agreement to reduce MSW at the highest ambition level, collect and process MSW more efficiently than other municipalities. Weekly instead of two-weekly waste collection, or using a weight-based pricing system appears to have no impact on efficiency. Our results show that aiming at MSW reduction does not lead to lower efficiency of public service provision, even on the contrary.

by Simon De Jaeger^{, a, b,} , Johan Eyckmans^{a, b}, Nicky Rogge^{a, b} and Tom Van Puyenbroeck^{a, b}

^a Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUBrussel), Centre for Research on Economic Markets and their Environments (CREME), Stormstraat 2, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium Tel.: +32 2 608 82 55; fax: +32 2 217 64 64.
^b Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KULeuven), Faculty of Business and Economics, Naamsestraat 69, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

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Article in Press, Corrected Proof - Received 25 June 2010; accepted 24 February 2011. Available online 22 March 2011.