School of Natural and Environmental Science, Newcastle University UK.
Sustainable Consumption Institute, and Economics, University of Manchester UK.
Waste Manag. 2021 Jun 15;129:95-110. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2021.04.054. Epub 2021 May 26.
The production of household waste is characterised by externalities and market failure, where the decision to consume does not consider the environmental impact of consequent waste generated. Policy interventions in the UK have focused primarily on pricing the disposal of waste through a landfill tax. This article tests the effectiveness of landfill taxation on household waste collection and disposal. Using a ridge regression with correction for fixed effects on a panel dataset of English local authorities, we estimate the landfill tax elasticity of waste for a range of waste disposal and collection streams. Results indicate that the landfill tax is elastic at disposal and effective in shifting waste from landfills to incineration. The tax is inelastic at collection, and encourages recycling. Our results indicate that landfill taxation is an important tool to change how waste is disposed by households and local authorities.
生活垃圾的产生具有外部性和市场失灵的特点，即消费者在做出消费决策时并未考虑随之产生的垃圾对环境的影响。英国的政策干预主要集中在通过垃圾填埋税对废物处理进行定价。本文旨在检验垃圾填埋税对英国家庭垃圾收集和处理的有效性。我们利用面板数据集的岭回归，并对英国各地方当局的固定效应进行修正，对一系列垃圾处理和收集渠道的废物进行了垃圾填埋税弹性的估计。结果表明，垃圾填埋税在处理方面具有弹性，并且能够有效地将废物从垃圾填埋场转移到焚烧厂。该税在收集方面缺乏弹性，鼓励了回收利用。我们的研究结果表明，垃圾填埋税是改变家庭和地方当局处理垃圾方式的重要工具。
