TY - JOUR
T1 - Waste management alternatives
T2 - (Dis)economies of scale in recovery and decoupling
AU - Swart, Julia
AU - Groot, Loek
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - This paper formulates a theoretical model which allows different waste management strategies in equilibrium, depending on the technology of waste recovery and the utility functional specification. In the model there are two waste treatment alternatives: 'not-recovered waste', composed of landfill and incineration without recovery and 'recovered waste', which is the aggregate of recycling, composting and incineration with recovery. We show that if recovery activities present constant or economies of scale then it is optimal to have zero not-recovered waste. The presence of diseconomies of scale in recovery of waste can either result in an equilibrium with zero or positive not-recovered waste, but recovery of waste is necessarily positive. We test for the presence of an EKC, and find that it is only compatible in our model when we assume decreasing marginal utility of consumption, and diseconomies of scale are limited. However, in the presence of (constant) economies of scale in recovery, we observe complete decoupling.
AB - This paper formulates a theoretical model which allows different waste management strategies in equilibrium, depending on the technology of waste recovery and the utility functional specification. In the model there are two waste treatment alternatives: 'not-recovered waste', composed of landfill and incineration without recovery and 'recovered waste', which is the aggregate of recycling, composting and incineration with recovery. We show that if recovery activities present constant or economies of scale then it is optimal to have zero not-recovered waste. The presence of diseconomies of scale in recovery of waste can either result in an equilibrium with zero or positive not-recovered waste, but recovery of waste is necessarily positive. We test for the presence of an EKC, and find that it is only compatible in our model when we assume decreasing marginal utility of consumption, and diseconomies of scale are limited. However, in the presence of (constant) economies of scale in recovery, we observe complete decoupling.
KW - Decoupling
KW - Economies of scale
KW - Environmental Kuznets Curve
KW - Landfill
KW - Recycling
KW - Waste disposal
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84916887476&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.resconrec.2014.11.005
DO - 10.1016/j.resconrec.2014.11.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84916887476
SN - 0921-3449
VL - 94
SP - 43
EP - 55
JO - Resources, Conservation and Recycling
JF - Resources, Conservation and Recycling
ER -