Municipal Waste Disposal: Unit Pricing and Recycling Opportunities

This article examines, theoretically and empirically, the impact of municipal waste management policies such as unit pricing and recycling on the demand for residential municipal solid waste disposal. Using a unique cross-sectional data set for 149 municipalities from five New Jersey counties, the empirical analysis estimates the demand for household municipal waste disposal. In the presence of recycling opportunities, the estimated demand elasticity is higher than that found in previous studies. This suggests that bag or tag unit pricing programs, combined with curb-side recycling, will improve social welfare and reduce municipal expenditures on waste disposal services. Mandatory government-supported recycling programs throughout New Jersey afford an opportunity to consider both the direct impact of recycling and the interaction between unit pricing and such recycling programs on municipal waste disposal.

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