Waste Policies and Individual Behaviours

The chapter aims at investigating waste policies that may affect individuals’ behaviour towards waste minimization and recycling. Both market base mechanisms, as unit-based pricing for unsorted waste, and technical policies, as adoption of curbside or drop-off systems are considered. The strength and weakness of each mechanism as drivers of people’s waste-related behaviours are highlighte

Municipal performance in waste recycling: an empirical analysis based on data from the Lombardy region (Italy)

By using a large cross-sectional dataset that observes municipalities from one of the most populated and wealthiest regions in Europe (Lombardy, Italy), this paper investigates how municipal waste re-cycling is correlated with a wide set of municipallevel variables. Results show that municipal waste recycling is linked to geographical, demographic, socio-economic and political variables. They also reveal that these tendencies vary according to municipalities’ population size. This empirical analysis helps in identifying those municipalities that have higher probability of being virtuous in terms of waste recycling