Recycling and Waste Diversion Effectiveness: Evidence from Canada

Ida Ferrara and Paul Missios

Environmental & Resource Economics, 2005, vol. 30, issue 2, 238 pages

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the relationship between recycling policy options and recycling behavior to study the most effective methods of diverting post-consumer waste from landfills. We employ data from a unique, micro-data set collected from households in communities across Ontario, Canada. We estimate the relationships between several commonly recycled materials (newsprint, glass, plastics, aluminum cans, tin cans, cardboard, and toxic chemicals) and individual household characteristics, recycling program attributes, and garbage collection financing methods. We find that user fees on garbage collection have significant impacts on recycling levels for all materials except toxic chemicals, and mandatory recycling programs on particular items have significant effects on recycling for almost all materials. Limits on the amount of garbage that can be placed at the curb, and providing free units under user fee systems, however, generally have a negligible or detrimental impact on recycling. Copyright Springer 2005

Keywords: environmental policy; household waste; ordered probit; recycling; user fees (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (64)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10640-004-1518-z

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