Regulating Solid Waste of Consumer Durables

Abstract

The previous section focused on emissions arising during the production process of the durable good. Another kind of pollution generated by durable consumption goods is solid consumption waste at the end of the products’ life. This waste causes disposal costs which are of increasing importance in many countries. In an extensive survey for the Republic of Ireland, for example, Barrett and Lawlor (1997) report disposal costs of IR £ 11 to 14 per ton for waste collection, IR £ 94 per ton for (curbside) recycling, IR £ 45 per ton for waste incineration and IR £ 19 to 22 per ton for landfilling. Roughly speaking, the data for Ireland may serve as lower bounds for disposal costs in countries like the U.K. or Germany since owing to the low population density landfilling costs and external costs in Ireland are likely to be smaller than in other regions. Evidence for this assertion can be found in e.g. Brisson (1993), Miranda and Hale (1997) and Huhtala (1999).