Municipal Waste Selection and Disposal: Evidences from Lombardy

This article exploit a data base of 1.522 observations related to Lombardy’s municipalities to run a cross sectional estimation of the drivers of MW selection. We find no evidence of a significant correlation between the percentage of selected MW selection and market variables such as the unit charge for waste management, a result probably affected by the high degree of integration existing in Lombardy among collectors and disposal operators. On the contrary, we discover robust and significant correlation with a set of geographical, socio-economic, and political variables. Among the latter ones, we have a confirmations on the influence of party competition on the percentage of household recycling, with the left wing ruling parties more addressed to it than the rivals, and on the high correlation existing between MW selection and the implementation of a unit pricing scheme. Other positive correlations with the independent variable are shown by per-capita income, while quite surprisingly the education level of citizens seems to play no role

The impact of tourism on municipal solid waste generation: The case of Menorca Island (Spain)

Tourism can sustain high levels of employment and income, but the sector is a source of environmental and health impacts. One of the most important is the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW). However, there is a lack of studies which quantify how much the tourist population engages in total MSW and separately collected recyclables. The aim of this paper is to estimate the impact of the tourist population on MSW, both total and separately collected, for the period 1998-2010, for the Mediterranean island of Menorca (Spain). We use dynamic regressions models, including data for monthly stocks of tourists. The results show that, on average, a 1% increase in the tourist population in Menorca causes an overall MSW increase of 0.282% and one more tourist in Menorca generates 1.31kgday-1 (while one more resident generates 1.48kgday-1). This result could be useful to better estimate the seasonal population of different regions, since intrannual fluctuation of MSW is used as a proxy measure of actual population (the sum of residents and tourists). Moreover, an increase of 1% in the tourist population causes an increase of 0.232% in separately collected recyclables and an additional tourist generates 0.160kgday-1. One resident selectively collects on average 47.3% more than one tourist. These results can help in the planning of waste infrastructure and waste collection services in tourist areas. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd