Economic regulation of waste management utilities: Taking stock of the Italian reform

ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT ◽

10.3280/efe2020-002001 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 5-33

Author(s):

Antonio Massarutto

Keyword(s):

Waste Management ◽

Public Service ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Original Model ◽

Municipal Waste ◽

Economic Regulation ◽

Regulatory Issues ◽

Regulatory Approach ◽

The Eu ◽

Made In

Since 2018, the economic regulation of Italian municipal waste utilities is attributed to an inde-pendent authority, ARERA. This original model is supposed to facilitate the transition towards the circular economy paradigm, that associates demanding public service obligations to recy-cling and valorization of waste, in the context of a vertically-integrated industry with a wide differentiation of conditions and maturity throughout the country. This paper analyzes the ex-perience of the first two years and discusses the outcomes reached. We start from a discussion of the fundamental economic characteristics of the waste management industry and of how the circular economy paradigm has radically changed it, raising rather new regulatory issues. We next analyze the structure of the Italian municipal waste management industry and its trajecto-ries of evolution face to the challenge to achieve the demanding targets imposed by the EU Circular Economy Package. We present then the regulatory approach adopted by ARERA in the first regulatory period (2020-2021) and discuss its advantages and drawbacks, based on the experience made in the early phase of its implementation.

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How Far Away Are World Economies from Circularity: Assessing the Capacity of Circular Economy Policy Packages in the Operation of Raw Materials and Industrial Wastes

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13084394 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 4394

Author(s):

Margarita Ignatyeva ◽

Vera Yurak ◽

Alexey Dushin ◽

Vladimir Strovsky ◽

Sergey Zavyalov ◽

...

Keyword(s):

The Netherlands ◽

Waste Management ◽

South Korea ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Industrial Wastes ◽

New Guidelines ◽

The 1960S ◽

Degree Level ◽

The Eu

Nowadays, circular economy (CE) is on the agenda, however, this concept of closed supply chains originated in the 1960s. The current growing quantity of studies in this area accounts for different discourses except the holistic one, which mixes both approaches—contextual and operating (contextual approach utilizes the thorough examination of the CE theory, stricture of the policy, etc.; the operating one uses any kind of statistical data)—to assess the capacity of circular economy regulatory policy packages (CERPP) in operating raw materials and industrial wastes. This article demonstrates new guidelines for assessing the degree level of capacity (DLC) of CERPPs in the operation of raw materials and industrial wastes by utilizing the apparatus of the fuzzy set theory. It scrupulously surveys current CERPPs in three regions: the EU overall, Finland and Russia; and assesses for eight regions—the EU overall, Finland, Russia, China, Greece, France, the Netherlands and South Korea—the DLC of CERPPs in operating raw materials and industrial wastes. The results show that EU is the best in CE policy and its CERPP is 3R. The following are South Korea and China with the same type of CERPP. Finland, France and the Netherlands have worse results than EU with the type of CERPP called “integrated waste management” because of the absence of a waste hierarchy (reduce, recover, recycle). Russia closes the list with the type of CERPP “basic waste management”.

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DISPARITIES IN MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT ACROSS EU-27. A GEOGRAPHICAL APPROACH

10.31235/osf.io/bf68j ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Florin Constantin MIHAI

Keyword(s):

Waste Management ◽

Environmental Issues ◽

Hierarchical Cluster ◽

Temporal Analysis ◽

Municipal Waste ◽

Member States ◽

Municipal Waste Management ◽

Territorial Disparities ◽

Spatial Temporal Analysis ◽

The Eu

Inadequate waste management leads to many environmental issues and theadoption of an efficient and sustainable waste management has become apriority objective of the EU. However, besides the demographic factors, thevarious socio-economic and geographical conditions of this complex spacelead to major disparities in municipal waste management between North andSouth, East and West. This paper aims to do a spatial-temporal analysis ofthe Eurostat indicators using ascending hierarchical cluster analysis thatdivides the member states into five typological classes. The resulted mapshighlight territorial disparities among the Member States on municipalwaste management and also reveal the evolution of environmental policiesbetween 2003-2009 related to the EU acquis.

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Implementation of a Circular Economy in Ukraine: The Context of European Integration

Resources ◽

10.3390/resources9080096 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. 96

Author(s):

Nestor Shpak ◽

Oleh Kuzmin ◽

Olga Melnyk ◽

Mariana Ruda ◽

Włodzimierz Sroka

Keyword(s):

Waste Management ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Purchasing Power Parity ◽

Economic Activity ◽

Capital Investment ◽

Current Model ◽

Capital Investments ◽

Power Parity ◽

Multifactor Model ◽

The Eu

The current model of resource management mainly contributes to mass short-term consumption, which creates an unstable and extremely critical situation on the planet. Going beyond the traditional industrial model of Take-Make-Waste, the circular economy aims to reduce waste (and therefore minimize costs) and to redefine sustainable development. This entails a gradual separation of economic activity from the consumption of scarce resources and the removal of waste from the system. In order to foreground the principles of a circular economy in Ukraine, this study analyzes its benefits based on the relevant experience of the EU. The paper also presents the results of research and content analysis on the situation of waste management in Ukraine and compares the trends using key indicators. The core of the paper is developing a conceptual model of making and coordinating management decisions on the implementation of business projects in the context of a circular economy in Ukraine. A multifactor model (the Farrar–Glauber method was further developed) has been built by identification of the main factors, i.e., the volume of generated waste from economic activity per unit of GDP at constant prices, emissions of pollutants, and capital investments for the protection of the environment. Factor coefficients indicate how many units will change the resultant trait Y, measured in thousand tonnes, if one of them changes by 1 (each in units of measure). It means that if the volume of waste generated from economic activity per unit of GDP at constant 2011 purchasing power parity (PPP) prices decreases by 1 kg/$1000, waste management of I–IV classes will be reduced by 952,737 thousand tonnes. The approbated model can be used to analyze the situation with recycling in the EU countries, considering the amount of capital investment in environmental protection.

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UK Municipal Waste Management: From a Public Service to a Globalised Industry

Competition & Change ◽

10.1179/102452907x166854 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 39-57 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Steve Davies

Keyword(s):

Waste Management ◽

Public Service ◽

Municipal Waste ◽

Municipal Waste Management

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MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT IN ROMANIA IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EU. A STAKEHOLDERS’ PERSPECTIVE

Technological and Economic Development of Economy ◽

10.3846/tede.2019.10295 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 25 (5) ◽

pp. 850-876

Author(s):

Carmen Nastase ◽

Carmen Emilia Chașovschi ◽

Mihaela State ◽

Adrian-Liviu Scutariu

Keyword(s):

Waste Management ◽

Management System ◽

Management Practices ◽

Municipal Waste ◽

Household Waste ◽

Recycling Rate ◽

Eu Countries ◽

Waste Management System ◽

Use Of Resources ◽

The Eu

The European waste policy is focused on reducing the negative impact of waste, eliminating the unhealthy use of resources, and on better waste management. The aim of this paper is to analyse Romania’s waste management practices in the EU context. The research methodology is based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis. The descriptive data analysis reveals significant differences among EU countries in terms of the municipal waste generated and the recycling rate. The municipal waste generated registers decrease, whereas there are significant increases in terms of the recycling rates in the EU countries. The qualitative research is based on the analysis of structured interviews among stakeholders, relevant for the waste management in Romania. The information obtained based on interviews was processed using NVivo and the main findings are focused on recommendations for improving the waste management system. We have identified a lack of adequate public support in the waste field due to insufficient awareness programs, lack of operator’s obligation for separate waste sanitation, people's discouragement to separate their household waste, and lack of bins to separate collection. The correction of identified weaknesses could lead to an improved waste management system, feasible only through an active involvement of stakeholders

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Circular economy in the waste management sector

10.18559/978-83-8211-074-6/iv5 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 243-250

Author(s):

Gabriel Grabowski

Keyword(s):

Waste Management ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Business Models ◽

Current Trend ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Municipal Waste ◽

Standards Of Living ◽

Closing The Loop ◽

Waste Segregation ◽

Multiple Challenges

The growing population and rising standards of living lead to an increase of the consumption of many goods. Reducing municipal waste which is created in that process can result in a wide range of environmental, economic, and social benefits, such as reducing pollution in water and soil, greenhouse gas emissions and loss of valuable materials. The concept to solve this problem of municipal waste due to increased consumption can be found, among others, in circular economy (CE). Circular economy can be defined as “an economic system that is based on business models which replace the ‘end-of-life’ concept with reducing, alternatively reusing, recycling and recovering materials in production/distribution and consumption processes to accomplish sustainable development” (Kirchherr, Reike, & Hekkert, 2017). A current trend in developed countries is closing the loop, moving from the concept of “end-of-pipe” waste management towards more holistic resource management (Wilson, 2007). Implementing the circular economy approach through waste management systems can pose multiple challenges while providing incentives to improve waste management infrastructure. However, this requires investments and may be perceived by many people as cost, not investment in future generations and their standard of living. The aim of this chapter is to initiate discussion on the positive aspects and barriers of circular economy development in the Polish waste management sector. In the case study described in the text, the roles of citizens, public institutions as well as enterprises are shown in selective waste collection processes as an important element of circular economy. In Poland, awareness of waste segregation and the importance of using recycled materials is not well-developed compared to many other EU countries, although this situation is beginning to gradually improve.

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Determination of proportion of biodegradable and non-biodegradable cemetery waste fraction

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis ◽

10.11118/actaun201058020181 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 58 (2) ◽

pp. 181-184

Author(s):

Bohdan Stejskal

Keyword(s):

Czech Republic ◽

Waste Management ◽

Waste Utilization ◽

Repeated Measurements ◽

Municipal Waste ◽

Waste Processing ◽

The Czech Republic ◽

Council Directive ◽

The Eu

Municipal waste landfilling is the most common practice of municipal waste disposal in the Czech Republic. As a member state of the EU the Czech Republic must comply with the legislative requirements set for waste management. EU Council Directive 1999/31/EC requires member states to limit the amount of bio-degradable waste into landfill.To achieve the objectives of the Plan of Waste Management of the Czech Republic, various methods has been proposed. Prior to the waste processing, it is necessary to know the waste material composition, and after that select the most appropriate method and procedure for waste utilization or disposal.Therefore an analysis of graveyard waste composition has been carried out, where, by repeated measurements of samples weighing more than 500 kg (the total amount of analyzed waste was 3107 kg), it was found out that the graveyard waste consists of almost 77 % of bio-degradable matter. It is operationally impossible to separate bio-degradable matter from non-bio-degradable materials. Therefore it is desirable to collect compostable cemetery green waste separately from the waste coming from the decoration of gravestones that may be energetically utilized.

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Potential of Mineral Fraction in Compost-Like-Output, Methods of Its Obtaining and the Possibility of Using It in the Context of Circular Economy

Materials ◽

10.3390/ma13133023 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (13) ◽

pp. 3023

Author(s):

Jacek Połomka ◽

Andrzej Jędrczak

Keyword(s):

Waste Management ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Biological Treatment ◽

Separation Process ◽

Municipal Waste ◽

Road Maintenance ◽

Technical Feasibility ◽

Morphological Composition ◽

Winter Road ◽

Glass Recycling

Most of the systems for the mechanical and biological treatment of waste used in Poland send the 0–80 mm fraction separated from the municipal waste stream, after biostabilization, entirely to a landfill. Such action is not in line with the adopted EU strategy focused on waste management in the circular cycle. The purpose of this work was to assess the technical feasibility of recovering the mineral fractions contained in compost-like-output (CLO) on the proprietary technological line designed for glass recovery. The research was launched in January 2019, and lasted for a subsequent 12 months. In the article, the amounts of mineral fractions possible to be separated from CLO are presented, as well as their morphological composition and selected properties being determined. The processing of CLO on the line allowed to recover on average 69.4 ± 7.0% of the glass. This product was accepted by glass recycling plants. Mineral fractions constituting waste from the glass separation process were tested for their use in winter road maintenance. Tests were also carried out confirming the possibility of using selected mineral fractions (0–10 mm) from CLO to obtain a waste cement mix useful for constructing road foundations using a standard amount of cement.

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