Malek Wasim, Mortazavi Reza, Cialani Catia, Nordström Jonas
School of Information and Engineering, Dalarna University, SE-79188 Falun, Sweden.
Department of Business and Society, Economics unit, Dalarna University, SE-79188 Falun, Sweden.
Waste Manag. 2023 Jun 1;164:84-93. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2023.03.040. Epub 2023 Apr 8.
Waste management policies aim to divert waste from lower positions on the waste hierarchy such as landfill and incineration to higher positions in the hierarchy such as energy recovery and recycling. However, empirical evaluations of such policies are scarce. This study highlighted the effect of waste management policies on the amount of waste treated with landfill, incineration, energy recovery and recycling by analysing a panel dataset consisting of 14 European countries and the period 1996 to 2018. Findings from a seemingly unrelated regression model suggest that the landfill ban is associated with a decrease in landfill waste, but an increase in incineration, energy recovery and recycling waste. The landfill tax is also correlated with an increase in energy recovery waste but, in contrast, it is associated with a reduction in incineration and recycling waste. Meanwhile, the deposit refund scheme is associated with a decrease in the amount of landfill waste. Concerning the effects on total waste generated, regression results from a fixed effects model indicate that the landfill tax and the deposit refund scheme are both correlated with a reduction in the amount of waste generated. These findings contribute to the scarce academic literature evaluating waste management policies and may better inform policy makers on their longer-term implications.
废物管理政策旨在将废物从废物管理层次结构中较低的位置（如填埋和焚烧）转移到较高的位置（如能源回收和回收利用）。然而，对这类政策的实证评估却很少。本研究通过分析一个由14个欧洲国家以及1996年至2018年期间组成的面板数据集，突出了废物管理政策对采用填埋、焚烧、能源回收和回收利用方式处理的废物量的影响。一个看似不相关的回归模型的结果表明，填埋禁令与填埋废物量的减少相关，但与焚烧、能源回收和回收利用废物量的增加相关。填埋税也与能源回收废物量的增加相关，但相比之下，它与焚烧和回收利用废物量的减少相关。同时，押金退还计划与填埋废物量的减少相关。关于对产生的总废物的影响，固定效应模型的回归结果表明，填埋税和押金退还计划都与产生的废物量的减少相关。这些发现为评估废物管理政策的稀缺学术文献做出了贡献，并可能更好地让政策制定者了解其长期影响。
