Recycling and Waste Diversion Effectiveness: Evidence from Canada

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between recycling policy options and recycling behavior to study the most effective methods of diverting post-consumer waste from landfills. We employ data from a unique, micro-data set collected from households in communities across Ontario, Canada. We estimate the relationships between several commonly recycled materials (newsprint, glass, plastics, aluminum cans, tin cans, cardboard, and toxic chemicals) and individual household characteristics, recycling program attributes, and garbage collection financing methods. We find that user fees on garbage collection have significant impacts on recycling levels for all materials except toxic chemicals, and mandatory recycling programs on particular items have significant effects on recycling for almost all materials. Limits on the amount of garbage that can be placed at the curb, and providing free units under user fee systems, however, generally have a negligible or detrimental impact on recycling.JEL classification: D10, H23, Q28     

A Comparison of Household Recycling Behaviors in Norway and the United States

This paper investigates empirically the determinants of household recycling in Norway and compares the results with a similar, recently published, study of households in the United States. The comparison focuses on the relative importance of user fees on waste disposal, community recycling programs, and socioeconomic factors. Both data sources are nationwide, material-specific, and at the household level. One major finding is that a disposal fee provides a significant economic incentive to Norwegian households, whereas its effectiveness in the United States is still up for debate. Providing households with convenient recycling options, such as curbside and drop-off recycling, appears generally effective, but less so in Norway than in the United States. Socioeconomic characteristics are less important predictors of behavior in Norway than in the United States. Qualifications on the comparison are provided throughout and two extensions for future research are suggested at the end.     

On the Second-best Policy of Household's Waste Recycling

This study analyzes the second-best household's waste recycling policy. If we assume the first-best economy with no illegal disposal or transaction costs, then unit pricing, an advance disposal fee and a recycling subsidy are required in order to achieve the social optimum such that both the sum of unit pricing and an advance disposal fee and the sum of unit pricing and a recycling subsidy are equal to the marginal disposal cost. Furthermore, the first-best outcome can also be obtained by a producer take-back requirement system.In the real economy, however, various factors prevent the first-best optimal outcome. In this study we consider two factors, one being the transaction cost associated with a recycling subsidy (or refund) and the other being illegal disposal by the consumer. If a recycling subsidy (or a deposit-refund system) is adopted, a transaction cost associated with it will be generated. Alternatively, if unit pricing is adopted, some of the consumed goods may be disposed of illegally. We show the complete trade-off between unit pricing and a recycling subsidy. In other words, we can not adopt unit pricing and a recycling subsidy simultaneously. As a result, there are three candidates for the second-best policy: unit pricing with an advance disposal fee, a deposit-refund system, and a producer take-back requirement system.Which of these three policies is the second-best policy will depend on the relative magnitude of the price of a recycled good and the marginal transaction cost associated with a recycling subsidy (or the refund in a deposit-refund system). Generally, if the price of a recycled good is positive and the marginal transaction cost is relatively high, unit pricing with an advance disposal fee is the second-best policy. However, where the price of a recycled good is negative and the marginal transaction cost is relatively high, a producer take-back requirement system is the second-best policy. Further, where the marginal transaction cost is relatively low, a deposit-refund system is the second-best policy, regardless of whether the price of a recycled good is positive or negative.     

Household Waste Management in a Swedish Municipality: Determinants of Waste Disposal, Recycling and Composting

This paper analyzes waste disposal, recycling and composting in a municipality in southwest Sweden. In 1994, Varberg introduced a weight-based billing system for household waste charging 1 kr/kg of waste and at the same time recycling centers were set up and a green shopping campaign was launched. This led to a significant reduction in waste collected and increased recycling. This study had access to actual measured data on waste disposal at the household level for a residential area called Tvååker, in addition to survey data for the same households. This makes it possible to carry out a more reliable and more detailed analysis than has been previously possible, particularly with respect to attitudinal variables. The most important determinants of each individual household's waste were composting of kitchen waste, living area, age and attitudes concerning the difficulty of recycling various materials. Separate sections look at composting behaviour, at willingness to pay for sound waste management and for the sake of comparison three other municipalities are also studied. The main finding is that economic incentives, although important, are not the only driving force behind the observed reduction in municipal waste: Given the proper infrastructure that facilitates recycling, people are willing to invest more time than can be motivated purely by savings on their waste management bill.     

论我国电子废弃物资源化障碍的产生及其原因

我国电子废弃物资源化产业目前还比较薄弱,而电子废弃物的产生高峰已到来。目前我国电子废弃物的总体情况是数量庞大,由于政治、经济、文化等原因,使我国的电子废弃物回收率很低,无法实现电子废弃物回收的产业化、规模化。其中,我国的传统管理体制、粗放型经济增长方式以及大众的传统消费观念、消费意识等都是制约我国实现电子废弃物资源化的重要原因。整体而言,目前我国电子废弃物资源化的状况并不理想,需要更进一步完善。     

Differential Provision of Solid Waste Collection Services in the Presence of Heterogeneous Households

A model of household refuse production is presented in which individuals differ in their distaste for the waste stock and the supply of waste collection services is continuous in pick-up frequency. The inclusion of pick-up frequency into household solid waste management analyses has already been shown to have policy implications. In fact, even in the absence of the waste stock externality, a system of uniform consumption taxes and legal (or curbside) disposal and recycling subsidies has been found to be necessary (and sufficient) to induce households to socially optimally allocate their resources when illegal disposal (or simply dumping) incentives exist but a per unit punishment system for dumping is lacking. This policy is here concluded to be no longer feasible; instead, a system of differential consumption taxes and recycling subsidies and uniform legal disposal subsidies is found to be optimal (but possibly nonimplementable). In the presence of heterogeneous households, which are however identifiable on the basis of their relative location to the landfill site, an optimal and implementable policy is then shown to require a differential provision of collection services.     

在科学发展观下建立绿色税收体系

随着经济的发展，社会环境与经济发展矛盾日益尖锐，在科学发展观下建立绿色税收体系的提出正是为了顺应社会发展趋势，为缓解和解决这一矛盾提供有效的途径。     

城市典型废弃物循环利用体系建设——日本的实践与启示

日本是循环经济管理理念和发展水平较为领先的国家之一,也是我国发展循环经济的一个重要借鉴和国际合作对象.文章从立法、全流程管理、分类管理和市场机制四个方面,系统而扼要地介绍了日本建设城市典型废弃物循环利用体系的主要做法和成效,包括:逐步推进建立和完善废弃物循环利用法律体系;结合责任分担制和延伸生产者责任制,实施全流程链条式管理;针对性地建立废弃物循环利用体系和处理方法,实现资源效用最大化;政府立法和规划引导,逐步形成以市场机制为主的废弃物循环利用体系.在此基础上,文章有针对性地提出了建立和完善我国城市典型废弃物循环利用体系的若干启示和建议,主要包括:理顺管理体制、完善现有体系、加大薄弱环节工作力度和调动利益相关者积极性四方面.     

A Post-Consumer Waste Management Model for Determining Optimal Levels of Recycling and Landfilling

The present study examines the optimal recycling rate for municipal solid waste. First, an optimal control model is developed to account for the physical costs of recycling, the social costs of landfilling, and consumers' environmental preferences. Second, an optimal solution is simulated using waste disposal data from the Helsinki region in Finland. The benefits from recycling are included in the simulation using the results of a recent contingent valuation study. The results of the present research suggest that mandates for achieving 50% recycling in municipalities are not far-fetched and are both economically and environmentally justified.     

略论我国建立环境税制的负面影响及政策建议

环境税作为环境保护的有效政策工具，已被许多发达国家所采用．但是，环境税也有其负面影响。本文基于我国经济发展实际情况．主要分析我国建立环境税制对公众心理税负、对居民收入分配以及对国家和企业竞争力等方面可能产生的负面影响，借鉴国际经验．结合我国实际．提出解决的政策建议。     

我国废纸循环利用的适度水平研究

废弃物循环利用的适度水平是构建循环经济的一个重要问题。以废纸的再利用为例,在界定废纸循环利用的社会效益与社会成本的基础上,综合运用生命周期分析方法与环境影响经济评估方法识别并货币化度量废纸循环利用的边际社会效益,构建了我国废纸循环利用的边际成本函数,进而分析我国废纸循环利用的适度水平。研究结果表明,2008年我国用废纸替代木材生产1吨纸浆的社会效益为14 037元,社会福利最大化下的废纸循环利用适度水平为60.1%,高于同期国内废纸循环利用的实际水平39.5%,适当提高现阶段我国废纸循环利用的水平可以增加整个社会的福利。     

环境成本的内部化与环境税制变迁

本文分析了环境成本产生的经济学根源,进而分析了环境成本内部化的途径。研究发现,政府环境税收政策的实施对企业利润的影响决定了环境成本内部化的途径。在完善的环境税制下,征收环境税可以促使污染企业外部成本内部化,因而环境税制是一种有效的环境经济政策。中国还没有开征专门的环境税,目前的税制在保护环境上发挥的作用不明显,有必要开征专门的环境税。本文运用制度变迁理论探讨了中国环境税制变迁的路径。     

废旧手机回收管理国际经验及对我国的启示

随着经济发展和技术进步,手机普及率日益提高,更新换代速度也越来越快,手机销售量和废旧手机产生量都急剧增加。首先梳理了我国涉及废旧手机管理的相关政策法规,并分析了废旧手机回收处理的现状和存在的问题。然后,借鉴欧盟、美国、日本、韩国等发达国家和地区,及国际组织在废旧手机管理和回收处理方面的经验,从法律政策、生产者责任延伸制度、回收处理体系和环保意识等方面提出了相应的改进建议,以便为废旧手机等小型电子废弃物的管理提供理论依据。     

基于循环经济理论的油气开采企业环境污染治理模式研究

在党中央提出科学发展观和构建社会主义和谐社会的背景下,发展循环经济,建设生态文明是建设资源节约型、环境友好型社会的重要途径。文章针对油气开采企业在勘探开发作业中形成的环境污染问题及其传统污染治理模式中存在的缺陷,从循环经济思想理论出发,综合运用生态学、系统科学等理论,提出了一种以油气开采企业为主体、全社会参与的环境污染治理新模式。     

中国废弃物处理企业发展与城市就业增加探析

废弃物处理和废弃资源回收在一定程度上减轻了城市的环境污染.实证分析表明,废弃物处理企业的发展对城市就业有很大的促进作用.现阶段,中国城市废弃物处理企业的发展还存在着诸如产业化水平不高、市场无序竞争、缺乏资金支持等诸多问题.因此,政府要在健全法律体系、促进产业化进程、加大攻策及科技支持力度等方面作出努力,以保障企业健康快速发展.     

基于价值分级的级差式石油资源税制研究

本文对我国石油业缴纳资源税的现状进行了分析,指出了实施级差式资源税的必要性,在此基础上,介绍了石油资源价值分级的理论、方法和数学模型。最后．以石油资源价值分级结果为依据．对我国实施级差式资源税的具体操作方法作了说明。     

国外的生态税收政策与我国生态税制建设构想

20世纪90年代以来,一些发达国家为了解决环境问题,纷纷展开生态税收改革,建立起了比较完善的生态税制,使税收在环境保护中发挥了巨大作用.我国应借鉴其先进经验,建立并完善我国的生态税制,以实现经济的可持续发展.     

依法治税和纳税服务——基于国家税收和公共税收的视角

依法治税和纳税服务是现阶段税收的两大任务。对两者的认识,不能孤立地或对立地看,而是要在社会主义市场经济下的税收应是国家税收和公共税收的统一的视角下加以把握。从这一认识出发,我们就能真正做到坚持依法治税,优化纳税服务,服务科学发展,就能探索出一条中国特色社会主义市场经济条件下的纳税服务新路。     

试论调控个人收入分配的财税政策选择

根据实际情况，我国政府调控个人收入分配，在财政政策方面，应加快完善社会保障制度，加大转移支付力度，缩小地区经济差距，加大扶贫投入的力度；在税收政策方面，应进一步完善个人所得税制度，适时开征遗产税与赠与税，加强特别消费税的作用，建立个人财产税制，适时开征社会保障税。     

声誉激励、社会监督与质量规制——城市垃圾处理行业中的博弈分析

我国实施市政公用事业市场化改革以来,民营企业通过竞标等方式从政府手中获取特许经营权,凭借其垄断地位和信息优势降低服务标准,导致垃圾处理行业陷入质量规制的困境。本文针对城市垃圾处理行业的问题,先是构建以规制机构与垃圾处理特许经营企业为参与者的博弈模型,分析了声誉激励和社会监督对博弈参与双方损益及其策略的影响;然后构建纳入举报机制的由社会民众、规制机构和特许经营企业三方参与的序列博弈模型。研究得出四点结论：（1）减少规制成本,增加对违规垃圾处理企业的惩罚力度,可减少企业违规概率;（2）声誉激励和社会监督均可减少垃圾处理特许经营企业违规概率;（3）社会监督有助于节约规制成本,减弱规制机构与企业间信息不对称程度,提高规制效率;（4）规制机构的检查行为与公众举报行为之间存在明显的互补性。最后针对性地提出了提高城市垃圾处理行业质量规制效果的政策建议。