IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/recore/v97y2015icp55-65.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimisation of the economic, environmental and administrative efficiency of the municipal waste management model in rural areas

Author

Listed:
  • Põldnurk, Jana

Abstract

The current paper focuses on the municipal waste management model optimisation in rural areas from the aspect of economic, environmental and administrative efficiency by case of Harju County municipalities in Estonia. The main problems and environmental impacts regarding waste management in rural areas arise from the administrative and logistical inefficiency which are expressed in high waste transportation costs, multiplicity of tasks of the public officers, unclear and unfair pricing formation, and municipality's low control over the municipal waste collection service. Although the waste hierarchy sets the preference of waste treatment operations, the environmental and economic feasibility may shuffle the priorities. In rural areas the transportation has a significant role in the environmental and economic impact of waste collection, and separate collection of some waste classes may turn economically and environmentally unfeasible. The administration of the waste management in the rural municipalities suffers from the lack of competence and financial resources. The objective of the research was to assess (1) the environmental and economic feasibility of source sorting paper and bio-waste in rural municipalities, (2) improvement of administrative efficiency, and economic cost-effectiveness resulting in reorganisation of waste management administration, and (3) optimisation options of the municipal waste collection logistics through inter-municipal waste collection districts. The results of the study show that in rural areas central collection of source sorted bio-waste is not economically and environmentally feasible, however the central collection of source sorted paper waste may be considered environmentally beneficial if applied through inter-municipal cooperation. This research introduces a new approach how to evaluate the potential feasibility of source sorting and central collection of paper and bio-waste in rural municipalities, and reveals the benefits of inter-municipal cooperation in terms of administrative, economic and logistical efficiency improvement. The model is applicable in any rural area where there is a potential for administrative cooperation between municipalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Põldnurk, Jana, 2015. "Optimisation of the economic, environmental and administrative efficiency of the municipal waste management model in rural areas," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 55-65.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:97:y:2015:i:c:p:55-65
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.02.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344915000257
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.02.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bel Germà & Fageda Xavier & E. Mildred, 2014. "Is private production of public services cheaper than public production? A meta-regression analysis of solid waste and water services," Public administration issues, Higher School of Economics, issue 3, pages 103-140.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Geddes, R. Richard & Wagner, Benjamin L., 2013. "Why do U.S. states adopt public–private partnership enabling legislation?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 30-41.
    2. Jean Beuve & Marian W. Moszoro & Stéphane Saussier, 2019. "Political contestability and public contract rigidity: An analysis of procurement contracts," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 316-335, April.
    3. Hellwig, Michael & Polk, Andreas, 2021. "Do political links influence water prices? Determinants of water prices in Germany," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    4. Daniel Albalate & Germà Bel & Joan Calzada, 2010. "Urban transport governance reform in Barcelona," IREA Working Papers 201009, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Jun 2010.
    5. Juan Jiménez & Jordi Perdiguero, 2012. "Does Rigidity of Prices Hide Collusion?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 41(3), pages 223-248, November.
    6. repec:wly:econjl:v::y:2017:i:605:p:f236-f265 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Graziano Abrate & Federico Boffa & Fabrizio Erbetta & Davide Vannoni, 2018. "Voters’ Information, Corruption, and the Efficiency of Local Public Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-22, December.
    8. Germà Bel & Jordi Rosell, 2016. "Public and Private Production in a Mixed Delivery System: Regulation, Competition and Costs," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(3), pages 533-558, June.
    9. Buchs, Arnaud & Calvo-Mendieta, Iratxe & Petit, Olivier & Roman, Philippe, 2021. "Challenging the ecological economics of water: Social and political perspectives," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    10. Holger MAHLENKAMP, 2015. "From State To Market Revisited: A Reassessment Of The Empirical Evidence On The Efficiency Of Public (And Privately-Owned) Enterprises," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 86(4), pages 535-557, December.
    11. Homsy, George C. & Warner, Mildred E., 2020. "Does public ownership of utilities matter for local government water policies?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    12. Graziano Abrate & Fabrizio Erbetta & Giovanni Fraquelli & Davide Vannoni, 2014. "The Costs of Disposal and Recycling: An Application to Italian Municipal Solid Waste Services," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(5), pages 896-909, May.
    13. Almeida, Renan P. & Hungaro, Lucas, 2021. "Water and sanitation governance between austerity and financialization," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    14. E. Dijkgraaf & R. H. J. M. Gradus, 2013. "Cost advantage cooperations larger than private waste collectors," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(7), pages 702-705, May.
    15. Немец Ю. & Меричкова Микушова Б. & Соукопова Я. & Шумпикова М. & Высоцкая В. Г., 2020. "Заключение Контрактов На Предоставление Муниципальных Услуг В Чехии И Словакии: Что Изменилось За Последние 20 Лет?," Вопросы государственного и муниципального управления // Public administration issues, НИУ ВШЭ, issue 3, pages 23-48.
    16. Esther Goya & Esther Vayá & Jordi Suriñach, 2012. "“Do intra- and inter-industry spillovers matter? CDM model estimates for Spain”," IREA Working Papers 201214, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Sep 2012.
    17. Peeter Peda & Giuseppe Grossi & Margo Liik, 2013. "Do ownership and size affect the performance of water utilities? Evidence from Estonian municipalities," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 17(2), pages 237-259, May.
    18. Norbert Brunner & Vijay Mishra & Ponnusamy Sakthivel & Markus Starkl & Christof Tschohl, 2015. "The Human Right to Water in Law and Implementation," Laws, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-59, August.
    19. Pérez-López, Gemma & Prior, Diego & Zafra-Gómez, José Luis & Plata-Díaz, Ana María, 2016. "Cost efficiency in municipal solid waste service delivery. Alternative management forms in relation to local population size," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 255(2), pages 583-592.
    20. Mildred E. Warner, 2012. "Does Local Government Size Matter? Privatization and Hybrid Systems of Local Service Delivery," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1212, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    21. Graziano Abrate & Federico Boffa & Fabrizio Erbetta & Davide Vannoni, 2013. "Corruption, Accountability and Efficiency. An Application to Municipal Solid Waste Services," Working papers 022, Department of Economics, Social Studies, Applied Mathematics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:97:y:2015:i:c:p:55-65. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kai Meng (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/resources-conservation-and-recycling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.