Assessment of national waste generation in EU Member States’ efficiency

Halkos, George and Petrou, Kleoniki Natalia (2018): Assessment of national waste generation in EU Member States’ efficiency.

Abstract

Waste generation and management may be considered as either a by-product of economic actions or even used as input to economic activity like energy recovery. Every country produces different amounts of municipal solid waste (MSW) and with different composition. This paper deals with the efficiency of 28 EU Member States for the years 2008, 2010 and 2012 by employing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and by using eight parameters, namely waste generation, employment rate, capital formation, GDP, population density and for the first time SOx, NOx and GHG emissions for the relevant countries. With these parameters six environmental production frameworks have been designed each with different inputs and outputs. The empirical analysis shows that overall the more efficient countries according to all frameworks include Belgium, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway. These results were then reviewed against the recycling rate of each country for the examined time periods. The recycling rate actually depicts the DEA results, namely more efficient countries seem to have a higher recycling rate too. Moreover the DEA efficiency results were contrasted to the overall treatment options used in the countries under consideration. Overall it is noticed that countries employing all four treatment options with high use of more sustainable ones and decrease in the use of landfill are the ones that also proved to be efficient according to DEA.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Environmental efficiency; waste generation; EU Member States; Data Envelopment Analysis; sustainability; environmental policy.
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C1 - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General > C18 - Methodological Issues: General; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O52 - Europe; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q50 - General; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q53 - Air Pollution ; Water Pollution ; Noise ; Hazardous Waste ; Solid Waste ; Recycling; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q56 - Environment and Development ; Environment and Trade ; Sustainability ; Environmental Accounts and Accounting ; Environmental Equity ; Population Growth; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R11 - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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