Effects of unit-based pricing on household waste collection

14 July 2016

The unit-based pricing (UBP) of residential solid waste collection has been implemented in many parts of the world, including municipalities in the United States, the EU, Japan and South Korea. The key questions that policymakers seek a response to are: Does UBP reduce quantities of waste and increase recycling, and if so, by how much? In most papers conducted to date this question is answered by estimating price elasticity for unsorted waste (and a cross-price elasticity for recycled waste). In a paper, published in Resource and Energy Economics, researchers at VU University Amsterdam seek to fill the gap in the literature on the effects of UBP by conducting a meta-regression analysis.
Click here for the article (578 kB).
Click here for more information about the NVC Inspiration meeting on the effectiveness of the Dutch policy on packaging and the environment (7 September 2016).

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