Empirical analysis of solid management waste costs: Some evidence from Galicia, Spain

This paper analyses the factors that determine solid waste service costs. The empirical analysis is based on information derived from a survey conducted in a sample of Galician municipalities. The results reveal economies of scale in municipalities of fewer than 50,000 inhabitants, such that cooperation between these municipalities could lead to cost savings. It also appears that private delivery is not cheaper than public delivery. Finally, designating a larger proportion of the total waste volume to recycling does not imply greater costs. .

[1]  M. Warner,et al.  Rural—Urban Differences in Privatization: Limits to the Competitive State , 2003 .

[2]  Antonio Massarutto,et al.  Municipal waste management as a local utility: Options for competition in an environmentally-regulated industry , 2007 .

[3]  Henry Ohlsson,et al.  Ownership and Production Costs: Choosing between Public Production and Contracting-Out in the Case of Swedish Refuse Collection , 1998 .

[4]  John N. Collins,et al.  The Effects of Size On the Provision of Public Services , 1977 .

[5]  Mildred E. Warner,et al.  Does privatization of solid waste and water services reduce costs? A review of empirical studies , 2008 .

[6]  E. Dijkgraaf,et al.  Collusion in the Dutch waste collection market , 2007 .

[7]  Pedro Simões,et al.  Does the sunshine regulatory approach work?: Governance and regulation model of the urban waste services in Portugal , 2008 .

[8]  Mildred E. Warner,et al.  COMPETITION OR MONOPOLY? COMPARING PRIVATIZATION OF LOCAL PUBLIC SERVICES IN THE US AND SPAIN , 2008 .

[9]  Jeffrey A. Dubin,et al.  How Markets for Impure Public Goods Organize: The Case of Household Refuse Collection , 1987 .

[10]  J. Mcdavid,et al.  Effects of Scale and Market Structure on the Costs of Residential Solid Waste Collection in Canadian Cities , 1986 .

[11]  Elbert Dijkgraaf,et al.  Cost Savings of Contracting Out Refuse Collection , 2005 .

[12]  Peter Kemper,et al.  The economics of refuse collection , 1976 .

[13]  James C. McDavid The Canadian Experience with Privatizing Residential Solid Waste Collection Services , 1985 .

[14]  Elbert Dijkgraaf,et al.  Cost Savings of Unit-Based Pricing of Household Waste: The Case of the Netherlands , 2004 .

[15]  S. Szymanski,et al.  The Impact of Compulsory Competitive Tendering on Refuse Collection Services , 1996 .

[16]  G. Bel,et al.  Local government reform: Privatisation and its alternatives , 2007 .

[17]  Scott J. Callan,et al.  Economies of Scale and Scope: A Cost Analysis of Municipal Solid Waste Services , 2001, Land Economics.

[18]  A Law of Large Numbers: Bidding and Compulsory Competitive Tendering for Refuse Collection Contracts , 2001 .

[19]  Simon Domberger,et al.  Competitive tendering and efficiency: the case of refuse collection , 1986 .

[20]  Local Government Reform: Privatization and Its Alternatives , 2007 .

[21]  Michael Barrow,et al.  The impact of contracting out on the costs of refuse collection services: the case of Ireland , 2000 .

[22]  E. Dijkgraaf,et al.  Institutional Developments in the Dutch Waste-Collection Market , 2008 .

[23]  M. B. C. Martínez-Azúa INCENTIVOS FISCALES EN I+D Y DECISIONES DE INNOVACIÓN , 2006 .

[24]  H. Kitchen A Statistical Estimation of an Operating Cost Function for Municipal Refuse Collection , 1976 .

[25]  Barbara J Stevens,et al.  Scale, Market Structure, and the Cost of Refuse Collection , 1978 .

[26]  Elbert Dijkgraaf,et al.  Collusion in the Dutch waste collection market , 2005 .

[27]  Germà Bel,et al.  Intermunicipal cooperation, privatization and waste management costs: evidence from rural municipalities. , 2009, Waste management.

[28]  Germà Bel,et al.  Do Public Sector Reforms Get Rusty? Local Privatization in Spain , 2006 .

[29]  Werner Z. Hirsch,et al.  Cost Functions of an Urban Government Service: Refuse Collection , 1965 .

[30]  Sean Wilkins,et al.  Cheap rubbish? Competitive tendering and contracting out in refuse collection, 1981-88 , 1993 .