Multi-market impacts of market based recycling initiatives
- St. Lawrence Univ., Canton, NY (United States). Dept. of Economics
In 1994 states enacted 110 new laws concerning recycling. These laws range from mandatory recycling programs to tax credits for businesses that use recycled material. All of the policies move to accomplish the end of more recycling. However, upon close examination of the recycling externality, one finds that recycling is not the appropriate end. Rather, recycling is one possible means of accomplishing the end of waste management. In this context, recycling finds its place after waste reduction, reuse and composting. Policy makers must consider the impacts of recycling initiatives on all parts of the waste cycle . In this paper, the multi-market impacts of three of the more popular policy instruments: recycling subsidies, per-bag fees, and a disposal tax/reuse subsidy are considered through close analysis of the consumer choice problem. Although all three policies encourage recycling, they differ in terms of the amount of waste created, reused, composted, illegally burned and dumped.
- OSTI ID:
- 353662
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970677--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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