Pricing landfill externalities: Emissions and disamenity costs in Cape Town, South Africa
- Environmental and Resource Economics Group, Natural Resources and the Environment, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, P.O. Box 320, Stellenbosch 7599 (South Africa)
Highlights: > The paper estimates landfill externalities associated with emissions, disamenities and transport. > Transport externalities vary from 24.22 to 31.42 Rands per tonne. > Costs of emissions (estimated using benefits transfer) vary from 0.07 to 28.91 Rands per tonne. > Disamenities (estimated using hedonic pricing) vary from 0.00 to 57.46 Rands per tonne. > Overall, external costs for urban landfills exceed those of a regional landfill. - Abstract: The external (environmental and social) costs of landfilling (e.g. emissions to air, soil and water; and 'disamenities' such as odours and pests) are difficult to quantify in monetary terms, and are therefore not generally reflected in waste disposal charges or taken into account in decision making regarding waste management options. This results in a bias against alternatives such as recycling, which may be more expensive than landfilling from a purely financial perspective, but preferable from an environmental and social perspective. There is therefore a need to quantify external costs in monetary terms, so that different disposal options can be compared on the basis of their overall costs to society (financial plus external costs). This study attempts to estimate the external costs of landfilling in the City of Cape Town for different scenarios, using the benefits transfer method (for emissions) and the hedonic pricing method (for disamenities). Both methods (in particular the process of transferring and adjusting estimates from one study site to another) are described in detail, allowing the procedures to be replicated elsewhere. The results show that external costs are currently R111 (in South African Rands, or approximately US$16) per tonne of waste, although these could decline under a scenario in which energy is recovered, or in which the existing urban landfills are replaced with a new regional landfill.
- OSTI ID:
- 21578474
- Journal Information:
- Waste Management, Vol. 31, Issue 9-10; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2011.05.015; PII: S0956-053X(11)00257-1; Copyright (c) 2011 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; ISSN 0956-053X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
AIR POLLUTION
DECISION MAKING
EMISSION
EXTERNAL COST
RECYCLING
SANITARY LANDFILLS
SOILS
SOUTH AFRICA
URBAN AREAS
WASTES
WATER POLLUTION
AFRICA
COST
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
MANAGEMENT
POLLUTION
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT