Size and Density Economies in Refuse Collection

Graziano Abrate, Fabrizio Erbetta (fabrizio.erbetta@eco.unipmn.it), Giovanni Fraquelli (giovanni.fraquelli@eco.unipmn.it) and Davide Vannoni
Additional contact information
Fabrizio Erbetta: Department of Business Management and Environment, University of Eastern Piedmont
Giovanni Fraquelli: Department of Business Management and Environment, University of Eastern Piedmont

No 9, Working papers from Department of Economics, Social Studies, Applied Mathematics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino

Abstract: The focus of the paper is to analyze the costs of solid waste collection by applying a well-behaved multiproduct cost function model to a sample of more than 500 Italian municipalities. Beyond shedding light on the presence and on the extent of size (or scale) economies, our aim is to investigate in depth the issue of economies of density, which is still an underexplored topic in the literature. Our cost function specification, by being able to estimate several measures of density economies (such as output density economies, vertical density economies and horizontal density economies), allows to capture the impact of different urbanization models on the costs of refuse collection and disposal. The results of the estimates highlight the presence of output density economies as well as horizontal density economies. Conversely, there is significant and robust evidence of the existence of vertical density diseconomies, which suggests that congestion problems in densely populated councils are severely affecting garbage collection costs. Finally, there is evidence of diseconomies of size, which suggests that aggregating the refusal collection operations of several municipalities would not bring savings in the average costs.

Keywords: Solid waste; density economies; cost functions. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 H42 L32 L99 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2012-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-eff and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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http://www.bemservizi.unito.it/repec/tur/wpapnw/m9.pdf First version, 2012 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Size and Density Economies in Refuse Collection (2012)
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