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The Impacts of the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act on Consumers
Author(s) -
NAUGHTON MICHAEL,
SEBOLD FREDERICK,
MAYER THOMAS
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of consumer affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1745-6606
pISSN - 0022-0078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6606.1990.tb00265.x
Subject(s) - legislation , business , container (type theory) , litter , payment , waste management , engineering , law , finance , mechanical engineering , political science
In late 1987 the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act went into effect. Like mandatory beverage deposit legislation in other states, this Act is designed to promote returns through the payment of a redemption value. However, unlike traditional legislation, the Act attempts to promote recycling with lower redemption values and more state intervention. This paper presents a methodology for analyzing the impacts of beverage container recycling legislation on consumers. Applying this methodology to California, it is found that the Act will significantly reduce beverage container solid waste and litter, but the net benefits of the Act depend critically on consumers' valuations of intangible benefits.