 Is incineration repressing recycling?Masashi Yamamoto and Thomas Kinnaman Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2022, vol. 111, issue C Abstract: Recycling rates increased rapidly in the United States and across the developed world in the 1980s and 1990s but have remained relatively flat in many countries since about 2005. Could increases in incineration and a possible ”feed the beast” mentality associated with efficient incineration make the recycling of some materials obsolete? In this paper, a conceptual model is delivered to better explain the possible trade-off. The model is then tested using novel data in Japan that includes both unused excess incineration capacity and recycling rates across municipalities and across time. Results suggest that, when controlling for other variables, excess incineration capacity indeed reduces recycling. These results suggest that future planned increases in recycling may be frustrated by increases in incineration. Keywords: Recycling; Incineration; Waste management policy; Propensity score matching; Circular economy (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:111:y:2022:i:c:s0095069621001364 DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2021.102593 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Environmental Economics and Management is currently edited by M.A. Cole, A. Lange, D.J. Phaneuf, D. Popp, M.J. Roberts, M.D. Smith, C. Timmins, Q. Weninger and A.J. Yates More articles in Journal of Environmental Economics and Management from Elsevier |
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