Bridging legal and economic perspectives on interstate municipal solid waste disposal in the US

Journal Article · Sat Jan 15 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Waste Management

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2010.08.005· OSTI ID:21541766

Longo, Christine ^[1]; Wagner, Jeffrey ^[2]

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1. Office of Program Evaluation and Risk Analysis, Research, Analysis and Statistics, IRS, US Department of Treasury, 500 N. Capital St., NW Washington, DC 20001 (United States)
2. Department of Economics, Rochester Institute of Technology, 92 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623-5604 (United States)

Research highlights: {yields} Legal and economic opinions of free interstate trade of MSW in the US are reviewed. {yields} Economic theory of landfill space as the article of commerce can align opinions. {yields} Waste management policies implied by this economic theory are compared/contrasted. - Abstract: Managing municipal solid waste (MSW) within and across regions is a complex public policy problem. One challenge regards conceptualizing precisely what commodity is to be managed across space and time. The US Supreme Court view is that waste disposal is the article of commerce per se. Some justices, however, have argued that while waste disposal is the article of commerce, its interstate flow could be impeded by states on the grounds that they have the authority to regulate natural resource quality within their boundaries. The argument in this paper is that adopting the economic theory view of the article of commerce as landfill space brings the majority and dissenting US Supreme Court views-and the resulting sides of the public policy dispute-into closer alignment. We discuss waste management policy tools that emerge from this closer alignment that are more likely to both withstand judicial scrutiny and achieve economic efficiency.

• OSTI ID: 21541766
• Journal Information: Waste Management, Vol. 31, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2010.08.005; PII: S0956-053X(10)00386-7; Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; ISSN 0956-053X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ECONOMIC POLICY
EFFICIENCY
LEGAL ASPECTS
MUNICIPAL WASTES
PUBLIC POLICY
SANITARY LANDFILLS
SOLID WASTES
USA
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
MANAGEMENT
NORTH AMERICA
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES