Abstract

The management of municipal solid waste sector is crucial for a sustainable circular economy. Waste utilities are expected to provide high quality solid waste services at an affordable price. The efficient management of solid waste requires its assessment from an economic and environmental perspective, i.e., eco-efficiency assessment. Although the reduction of unsorted waste incurs an economic cost, its positive externalities are huge for the well-being of society, the environment, and people. Our study quantifies the marginal cost of reducing any unsorted waste using stochastic frontier analysis techniques which allow us to estimate the eco-efficiency of the waste sector. Our empirical approach focuses on the municipal solid waste collection and recycling services provided by several waste utilities in Chile. The results indicate that substantial eco-inefficiency in the sector exists, since the average eco-efficiency score is roughly 0.5 which means that the municipalities could approximately halve their operational costs and unsorted waste to produce the same level of output. The average marginal cost of reducing unsorted waste is 32.28 Chilean pesos per ton, although notable differences are revealed among the waste utilities evaluated. The results provided by this study are of great interest to stakeholders to promote sustainable management solutions and resource efficient solid waste services.

Highlights

  • IntroductionPublisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations

  • We discuss the results based on eco-efficiency scores and the marginal cost of reducing the unsorted waste of waste utilities (WUs)

  • Our study employs stochastic frontier techniques to estimate the eco-efficiency of several WUs managed by municipalities that provide Municipal solid waste (MSW) management services in

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Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is an important indicator for the development of a country [1], as it has a significant effect on resource efficiency, the environment, and peoples’ well-being [2]. The performance of the MSW sector has received considerable attention from researchers and policy makers due to population growth, economic growth, customer habits, and resource constraints [3,4,5]. In spite of the efforts conducted by local and national authorities, the volume of MSW produced has been increasing in the European Union and developing countries [6,7,8], and improving the efficiency of solid waste services is of great importance

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