Ren Xin, Hu Shunong
World Bank Office in China and Mongolia, Beijing, Peoples' Republic of China.
Waste Manag Res. 2014 Apr;32(4):340-7. doi: 10.1177/0734242X14526771. Epub 2014 Mar 14.
Financial performance of waste management, the key for efficiency and sustainability, has rarely been studied in China, especially for small cities. Through questionnaires and interviews, we conducted such a case study in several cities aiming to fill the gap and improve waste service. We found that labour accounts for more than half to three-quarters of the operation cost, followed by fuel and vehicle maintenance. The waste service heavily relies on budget transfer of the municipality. User fees collected recover less than half of total operation cost at best, even if the collection rate is relatively high. The low cost recovery is mainly due to low fee rates, unchanged for years owing to public pressure. Public complaint seems to be justified by the finding that the service only accounts for 5-10% of municipal revenue annually and even lower in government spending. Contrary to general perception, per capita waste generation in small cities is not less than big ones. Waste composition is dominated by kitchen wastes, with fractions of recyclables and combustibles much lower than big cities. These findings have implications on the waste management strategy: commercial incineration or recycling may not be economically viable for small cities. The article concludes that user fees might better serve, and be designed for, behaviour change than for cost recovery. Municipalities need to first improve cost efficiency and transparency of waste services to gain public trust and support in order to tackle the biggest challenge facing developing countries, cost recovery.
垃圾管理的财务绩效是效率和可持续性的关键，在中国却很少受到研究，尤其是在小城市。通过问卷调查和访谈，我们在几个城市开展了这样一项案例研究，旨在填补这一空白并改善垃圾服务。我们发现，劳动力占运营成本的一半以上至四分之三，其次是燃料和车辆维护。垃圾服务严重依赖市政府的预算转移。即便收取率相对较高，所收取的用户费用最多只能收回不到一半的总运营成本。成本回收率低主要是由于费率较低，由于公众压力多年未变。公众投诉似乎是有道理的，因为该服务仅占市政收入的5%-10%，在政府支出中占比甚至更低。与一般看法相反，小城市的人均垃圾产生量并不低于大城市。垃圾成分以厨余垃圾为主，可回收物和可燃物的比例远低于大城市。这些发现对垃圾管理策略有影响：商业焚烧或回收对小城市来说在经济上可能不可行。文章得出结论，用户收费可能更适合服务于行为改变，而不是成本回收。市政府首先需要提高垃圾服务的成本效率和透明度，以赢得公众的信任和支持，从而应对发展中国家面临的最大挑战，即成本回收。
