IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tin/wpaper/20050094.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

An Economic Analysis of Mixing Wastes

Author

Listed:
  • Rob F.T. Aalbers

    (SEO Economic Research, Amsterdam)

  • Herman R.J. Vollebergh

    (Faculty of Economics, Erasmus Universiteit)

Abstract

Using a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous waste, this paper studies optimal waste policy when households have to exert separation effort to produce near-homogeneous waste streams suitable for recycling. Our model explicitly allows for changes in the composition (quality) of waste streams depending on how much effort households are willing to spend on separating different types of waste. Accordingly, we are able to generalize some earlier contributions to the waste management literature and demonstrate that with both mixing and effort included, a first-best optimum is feasible under reasonable conditions. In particular, we find that a (modified) deposit-refund system still provides the optimal incentives to guide recycling as well as legal disposal (landfilling) and illegal dumping. Both the number and level of taxes and subsidies needed to reach the first-best depend crucially on the socially optimal level of dumping as well as the socially optimal composition of the mix.

Suggested Citation

  • Rob F.T. Aalbers & Herman R.J. Vollebergh, 2005. "An Economic Analysis of Mixing Wastes," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-094/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20050094
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/05094.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Don Fullerton & Wenbo Wu, 2002. "Policies for Green Design," Chapters, in: Don Fullerton & Thomas C. Kinnaman (ed.), The Economics of Household Garbage and Recycling Behavior, chapter 5, pages 102-119, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Dijkgraaf, E. & Gradus, R. H. J. M., 2004. "Cost savings in unit-based pricing of household waste: The case of The Netherlands," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 353-371, December.
    3. Don Fullerton & Thomas C. Kinnaman, 2002. "Garbage, Recycling, and Illicit Burning or Dumping," Chapters, in: Don Fullerton & Thomas C. Kinnaman (ed.), The Economics of Household Garbage and Recycling Behavior, chapter 2, pages 49-62, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Chongwoo Choe & Iain Fraser, 2001. "On the Flexibility of Optimal Policies for Green Design," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 18(4), pages 367-371, April.
    5. Margaret Walls & Paul Calcott, 2000. "Can Downstream Waste Disposal Policies Encourage Upstream "Design for Environment"?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 233-237, May.
    6. Choe, Chongwoo & Fraser, Iain, 1999. "An Economic Analysis of Household Waste Management," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 234-246, September.
    7. Thomas Eichner & Rüdiger Pethig, 2001. "Recycling, Producer Responsibility and Centralized Waste Management," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 57(3), pages 333-360, May.
    8. Dijkgraaf, Elbert & Vollebergh, Herman R.J., 2004. "Burn or bury? A social cost comparison of final waste disposal methods," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3-4), pages 233-247, October.
    9. Timothy K. M. Beatty & Peter Berck & Jay P. Shimshack, 2007. "Curbside Recycling In The Presence Of Alternatives," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 45(4), pages 739-755, October.
    10. Jenkins, Robin R. & Martinez, Salvador A. & Palmer, Karen & Podolsky, Michael J., 2003. "The determinants of household recycling: a material-specific analysis of recycling program features and unit pricing," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 294-318, March.
    11. David Aadland & Arthur J. Caplan, 2003. "Willingness to Pay for Curbside Recycling with Detection and Mitigation of Hypothetical Bias," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(2), pages 492-502.
    12. Ann Wolverton & Don Fullerton, 2000. "Two Generalizations of a Deposit-Refund Systems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 238-242, May.
    13. Takayoshi Shinkuma, 2003. "On the Second-best Policy of Household's Waste Recycling," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 24(1), pages 77-95, January.
    14. Thomas Eichner & Rüdiger Pethig, 2003. "Corrective Taxation for Curbing Pollution and Promoting Green Product Design and Recycling," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 25(4), pages 477-500, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wolfram Berger & Yoko Nagase, 2018. "Waste management regulation: policy solutions and policy shortcomings," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(3), pages 205-223, July.
    2. Eiji B. Hosoda, 2014. "An Analysis of Sorting and Recycling of Household Waste: A neo-Ricardian Approach," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(1), pages 58-94, February.
    3. Fleckinger, Pierre & Glachant, Matthieu, 2010. "The organization of extended producer responsibility in waste policy with product differentiation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 57-66, January.
    4. repec:hal:cesptp:hal-00641867 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Kinokuni, Hiroshi & Ohori, Shuichi & Tomoda, Yasunobu, 2021. "Advance disposal fee vs. disposal fee: A monopolistic producer’s durability choice model," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    6. M. Dubois & J. Eyckmans, 2015. "Efficient Waste Management Policies and Strategic Behavior with Open Borders," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 62(4), pages 907-923, December.
    7. Shi, Xiaoran & Thanos, Aristotelis E. & Celik, Nurcin, 2014. "Multi-objective agent-based modeling of single-stream recycling programs," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 190-205.
    8. Yokoo, Hide-Fumi & Kinnaman, Thomas C., 2013. "Global Reuse and optimal waste policy," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(5), pages 595-614, October.
    9. Matsumoto, Shigeru, 2011. "Waste separation at home: Are Japanese municipal curbside recycling policies efficient?," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 325-334.

    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. Francisco J. André & Emilio Cerdá, 2005. "Gestión de residuos sólidos urbanos: Análisis económico y políticas públicas," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2005/23, Centro de Estudios Andaluces.
    2. Calcott, Paul & Walls, Margaret, 2005. "Waste, recycling, and "Design for Environment": Roles for markets and policy instruments," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 287-305, November.
    3. Walls, Margaret, 2011. "Deposit-Refund Systems in Practice and Theory," RFF Working Paper Series dp-11-47, Resources for the Future.
    4. Thomas Eichner, 2005. "Imperfect Competition In The Recycling Industry," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(1), pages 1-24, February.
    5. Peter H. Egger & Christian Keuschnigg, 2023. "Resource Dependence, Recycling, and Trade," CESifo Working Paper Series 10553, CESifo.
    6. Houévoh Amandine R. Gnonlonfin, 2016. "An evaluation of French municipal solid waste pricing system," Policy Papers 2016.05, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    7. Walls, Margaret & Calcott, Paul, 2000. "Policies to Encourage Recycling and "Design for Environment": What to Do When Markets are Missing," RFF Working Paper Series dp-00-30, Resources for the Future.
    8. Brian Chi-ang Lin & Siqi Zheng & Ankinée Kirakozian, 2016. "One Without The Other? Behavioural And Incentive Policies For Household Waste Management," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 526-551, July.
    9. Wolfram Berger & Yoko Nagase, 2018. "Waste management regulation: policy solutions and policy shortcomings," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(3), pages 205-223, July.
    10. Ino, Hiroaki, 2011. "Optimal environmental policy for waste disposal and recycling when firms are not compliant," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 290-308, September.
    11. Acuff, Kaylee & Kaffine, Daniel T., 2013. "Greenhouse gas emissions, waste and recycling policy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 74-86.
    12. Fleckinger, Pierre & Glachant, Matthieu, 2010. "The organization of extended producer responsibility in waste policy with product differentiation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 57-66, January.
    13. M. Dubois & J. Eyckmans, 2015. "Efficient Waste Management Policies and Strategic Behavior with Open Borders," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 62(4), pages 907-923, December.
    14. Ulli-Beer, Silvia & Andersen, David F. & Richardson, George P., 2007. "Financing a competitive recycling initiative in Switzerland," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(3-4), pages 727-739, May.
    15. Thomas Eichner & Rüdiger Pethig, 2003. "Corrective Taxation for Curbing Pollution and Promoting Green Product Design and Recycling," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 25(4), pages 477-500, August.
    16. Thomas Eichner & Marco Runkel, 2005. "Efficient Policies for Green Design in a Vintage Durable Good Model," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 30(3), pages 259-278, March.
    17. Hiroaki Ino, 2007. "Extended producer responsibility in oligopoly," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 17(6), pages 1-9.
    18. Marco Runkel, 2003. "Product Durability and Extended Producer Responsibility in Solid Waste Management," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 24(2), pages 161-182, February.
    19. Shinkuma, Takayoshi, 2007. "Reconsideration of an advance disposal fee policy for end-of-life durable goods," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 110-121, January.
    20. D’Amato, Alessio & Mazzanti, Massimiliano & Nicolli, Francesco, 2015. "Waste and organized crime in regional environments," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 185-201.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economics of Waste; Recycling; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies; General Equilibrium Theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:tin:wpaper:20050094. 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: Tinbergen Office +31 (0)10-4088900 (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tinbenl.html .

    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.