Abfallwirtschaft zwischen Überkapazitäten und Entsorgungsenpass - Eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme

Fritz Rahmeyer ()
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Fritz Rahmeyer: University of Augsburg, Department of Economics

No 288, Discussion Paper Series from Universitaet Augsburg, Institute for Economics

Abstract: At present, the utilization of waste products in Germany is characterized by the enforcement of rigorous environmental standards (pre-treatment of waste, sealing of dumps) and following from that a temporary capacity problem regarding the disposal of pre-treated household refuse and the incineration of calorie intensive trade refuse. The privatization of commercial waste for utilization under the Waste Management Law of 1996 resulted in a low level of capacity utilization of municipal waste treatment facilities. Besides, the requirements concerning the (thermal or mechanical-biological) pre-treatment of waste are not met on time, as a consequence of omissions at local level and privately. In order to explain the fundamental change from the former “battle over waste” among privately owned and municipal enterprises to the present bottleneck in refuse disposal, first of all the waste industry is briefly characterized in the context of environmental protection (2.). After that its legal framework is dealt with in an abridged version and partly commented on (3.). In this the basic problem is the distinction between energetic waste utilization and thermal waste disposal that is in dispute in case of waste incineration. The actual legal practice of the European Court of Justice has resulted in a utilization instead of the former disposal friendly interpretation of the concept of waste. It contributed – among other reasons – to a surplus capacity of municipal incinerating plants. The object of chapter 4 is the calculation of fees of the different services of waste disposal and their possible ecological design. As an alternative solution of regulating the utilization of waste products in form of the current juxtaposition of public and private refuse disposal and waste utilization, its possible further privatization is dealt with controversially. A few variants from this are distinguished in more detail like competition in and for the market, besides the increase of efficiency in the present legal and organizational framework. Privatization of governmental duties in case of the utilization of waste products is limited to the performance of but does not include the responsibility for its tasks.

Keywords: waste utilization; refuse disposal; waste charges; liberalization of waste management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K32 Q53 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-11
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