The Economics of Household Garbage and Recycling Behaviour

About this book

The market for residential solid waste management and disposal has experienced dramatic changes since the 1980s. This collection of published research examines these changes and analyzes the strategies popularized by municipal governments. Kerbside recycling is available to 46 per cent of Americans. Thousands of towns across the nation have also implemented user fees requiring households to pay a fee for every bag of garbage they generate. These policy shifts have attracted the attention of environmental economists interested in knowing the best strategy for managing solid waste. The editors of this volume offer theoretical solutions for the optimal pricing of garbage and recycling collection. They provide original data collection and suggest appropriate econometric techniques that correct for statistical biases. A policy focus provides information relevant to municipal governments as well as researchers.

Contents

The economics of residential solid waste management, T. Kinnaman and D. Fullerton; garbage, recycling,and illicit burning or dumping, D. Fullerton and T. Kinnaman; how a fee per-unit affects aggregate recycling in a model with heterogeneous households, T. Kinnaman and D. Fullerton; household responses to pricing garbage by the bag, D. Fullerton and T. Kinnaman; policies for green design, D. Fullerton and W. Wu; garbage and recycling with endogenous local policy, T. Kinnaman and D. Fullerton; explaining household demand for the collection of solid waste and recycling, T. Kinnaman; explaining the growth in municipal recycling programs - the role of market and non-market factors; environmental levies and distortionary taxation - comment, D. Fullerton; the case for a two-part instrument - presumptive taxand environmental subsidy, D. Fullerton and A. Wolverton.

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