Waste Management Costs In Greece:Spatial Patterns And Causal Factors

This paper attempts to estimate the municipal solid waste (MSW) management costs in a number of urban and rural municipalities in Greece. The dataset comprises 71 municipalities, covering about 30% of the total population of the country. The permanent population of the municipalities examined ranges from 39 (Antikythera) to 789,166 (Athens) people, according to the 2001 census data. Data on MSW production, collection, transport, recycling and disposal were collected, using questionnaires. The total waste management cost ranges from €25/tonne to €948/tonne, with a mean value of €129/tonne and median €104/tonne. Relatively increased costs are recorded in the municipalities of the Attica region due to the fees paid to AMCAR (Association of Municipalities and Communities of the Attica Region) for the landfilling of their waste, while several, especially rural, municipalities still use uncontrolled dumps not entailing any financial disposal costs. The collection and transport costs account on average for about 85% of the total costs, due to the lack of treatment and the generally low cost of final disposal in the country. Operational costs account for a little over 85% of the total cost, with labor costs being the major cost fraction. Most of the local authorities, especially in the urban areas, have developed economic sufficient systems of waste management, with the fees paid by the citizens covering their expenses; however, this does not mean that the notion of “economic efficiency” includes potential negative environmental externalities. The final part of the analysis presents some potential explanations for the spatial variation of municipal waste management costs.