Designing circular economy-compliant municipal solid waste management charging schemes
Giacomo Di Foggia, Massimo Beccarello
Abstract
We simulate the performance of a gain-sharing charging scheme aimed at boosting the circularity of municipal solid waste management; its effectiveness is empirically tested by comparing it with the performances of unit pricing and standard schemes. When unit pricing charging schemes are in place, environmental performance significantly improves while the per capita cost slightly decreases. However, by narrowing the analysis to more comparable municipalities, there are circumstances in which the unit pricing and standard charging schemes are equivalent. Instead, under specific conditions, a rewarding charging scheme can outperform, thus making it a first-best option according to socioeconomic and geographical characteristics.