Cost savings of unit-based pricing of household waste: The case of the Netherlands

Using a panel data set for Dutch municipalities we estimate effects for weight-based, bag-based, frequency-based and volume-based pricing of household waste collection. Unit-based pricing shows to be effective in reducing solid and compostable and increasing recyclable waste. Pricing has no effect on the waste collected in surrounding municipalities (waste tourism). However, unit-based pricing may lead to illegal dumping. While empirical evidence is scarce, a social cost-benefit analysis shows that if the social valuation of illegal dumping is in line with the social costs for collecting and treating solid waste, the weight or bag-based systems are preferable.municipal waste management, social welfare, unit-based pricing systems

Cost savings of contracting out refuse collection

The article discusses the possible cost savings of contracting out refuse collection in the Netherlands. According to foreign econometric studies, contracting out refuse collection leads to cost savings of approximately 20%. Our findings indicate that similar cost savings apply to the Netherlands. However, different production technologies apply to internal or external refuse collection. The Chow test, which examines whether the estimated coefficients on the explanatory variables are the same, reveals that different cost functions have to be estimated for the sub-samples. We show that the postulated cost savings can even be larger, when taking account of effects of different production technologies. Though significant cost savings exist on contracting out waste collection, households will not experience these cost savings on a one to one basis. Private refuse collection firms must pay VAT while public firms are exempted. At present the Dutch fiscal system hinders a more pronounced role for private refuse collection firms.Refuse collection, cost estimation, Chow stability test, pooling, VAT

Explaining Sunday shop policies

Dutch municipalities have the right to decide on Sunday shop opening hours since 1996. Despite positive effects on economic growth and employment, many municipalities restrict Sunday trading in one way or another. Based on 2003 data we show that especially religious and political afilliation, regional differences and the size of the municipalities explain the variation between municipalities. The number and size of shops and household characteristics are significant although their influence seems to be smaller. There is less evidence that excessive competition with neighbouring municipalities induces shop opening on Sundays, although cross-border shopping seems to play a role. Population density has no effect.Sunday opening, economic regulation, probit estimation.

Similar problems, different solutions: Comparing refuse collection in the Netherlands and Spain

Local public service provision can vary greatly because of differences in institutional arrangements, public service markets, and national traditions regarding government intervention. In this paper we compare the procedures adopted by the local governments of the Netherlands and Spain in arranging for the provision of solid waste collection. We find that Spain faces a consolidation problem, opting more frequently to implement policies of privatization and cooperation, at the expense of competition. By contrast, the Netherlands has, on average, larger municipalities, resorting somewhat less to privatization and cooperation, and more to competition. The two options - cooperation and competition - have their merits when striving to strike a balance between transaction costs and scale economies. The choices made in organizational reform seem to be related to several factors, among which the nature of the political system and the size of municipalities appear to be relevant.Local governments, contracting-out, privatization,inter-municipal cooperation.

Contracting out: the importance of a level playing field

The levying of VAT in countries of the European Union creates significant distortions for local authorities in their decision-making on public provision and contracting out of public services. In several EU-countries, a refund of VAT to local governments eliminates this effect. Therefore, these schemes facilitate contracting out by local governments. In European countries with a refund scheme for the VAT costs of local governments or other ways to solve this distortion, contracting out refuse collection is relatively high compared to countries without. Moreover, the design of the scheme may have an effect on the tax rates of the included government sectors. A closed system financed by local governments only will lead to an increase of local tax rates

Comparing Different European Income Tax Policies Making Work Pay

Raising the participation at the lower end of the labour market abstract is hindered by the high burden of taxation. Therefore, recently, in some European countries serious efforts have been made to make work pay. In this paper an overview of these current efforts is given. With the exception of Germany there seems to be a consistent policy of making work pay through the introduction of a substantial in-work tax credit and a decrease of the basic rate. In some countries due to distributing aspects the in-work tax credit is targeted to families with children. Moreover, two countries have a back to work allowance or premium for benefit claimants. Given the limited resources for future tax reforms, increase of in-work credits seem appropriate for further progress in making work pay

The Effectiveness of Dutch Municipal Recycling Policies

__Abstract__ The EU advocates a household waste recycling rate of more than 70%. Although the Netherlands already years ago invested in recycling policies heavily, this is still a large challenge as nowadays on average this rate is approximately 50% and nearly no municipalities have a rate above 70%. Given the experience, it is possible to learn from the Dutch experience which policies are effective in increasing the recycling rates. Based on a large panel data set for the Netherlands , we show that unit-based pricing, avoiding a duo-bin or unsorted and compostable waste, and moving back the frequency of collecting unsorted and compostable waste at the curbside are effective in raising the recycling rate. However, only unit-based pricing has a substantial effect. In nearly all cases changing the frequency of collection of recyclables had no or very small effects. We find some evidence for the effectiveness of adding bring locations to curbside collection. Based on an estimation of the cost function most policies have no effect on costs, except for unit-based pricing (saving on cost) and increases in the frequency of unsorted waste collection (cost increasing). Overall, it seems nearly impossible to reach the EU-goal of 70% with the policies applied

Vuilophaal kan goedkoper: de winst van uitbesteding

In het buitenland zijn grote kostenvoordelen behaald bij het uitbesteden van uitvoeringsgerichte overheidstaken als schoonmaken, catering en ophalen van huisvuil. In dit artikel onderzoeken we het effect van het uitbesteden van de vuilophaal in Nederland. Onze resultaten wijzen er op dat uitbesteding de kosten met f. 60 tot f. 80 per huishouden kan reduceren, een besparing van 15 à 20 procent. Dit komt overeen met gerealiseerde besparingen in het buitenland