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Market incentives to encourage household waste recycling: Paying for what you throw away
Author(s) -
Reschovsky James D.,
Stone Sarah E.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of policy analysis and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.898
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1520-6688
pISSN - 0276-8739
DOI - 10.2307/3325093
Subject(s) - incentive , business , household waste , economics , labour economics , waste management , microeconomics , engineering
This article investigates the use of market incentives to encourage household waste recycling by pricing waste‐disposal services according to the quantity of waste generated. We use a natural experiment from an upstate New York county to examine how quantity‐based pricing of waste disposal affects reported household recycling behavior, when used by itself or in conjunction with curbside pickup of recyclables or mandatory recycling laws. Curbside pickup was found to have the greatest effect on reported recycling behavior, although higher waste‐disposal prices might alter these conclusions. Other concerns about quantity‐based pricing of solid waste—distributional effects, public acceptance, and adverse incentives—are also examined.