International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

the infrastructure in this regard was improved over the period drawing more material
through this route.
The literature most clearly shows that charging for household waste moves material
from refuse to kerbside recycling. Beyond this however, changes in flows of material
caused by charging schemes are generally poorly understood. It is fair to assume that
if constraints are placed on one part of the waste management system, then material
has a habit of flowing onto other parts of the system. In an original case study we
carried out in Schweinfurt, the director of the service was particularly keen to
understand where the waste had gone. 173 Even after exploring all of the following,
one-sixth of the reduction in residual waste remained unexplained:
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� Quantities of recycled material, before and after;
� Composition of residual waste before and after;
� Rates of home composting, before and after;
� Possible causes of a reduction in the amount of inert building / DIY waste
generated;
� Change in the use of nappies from disposables to re-usables;
� Consumer choices;
� Burning of waste by households (regarding this issue, the county sought
information from chimney sweeps).
� Householders taking their waste to their place of work;
� Waste being flushed into sewers (down toilets);
� Fly-tipping.
Clearly, this is a complex issue, and measuring any one of these in a manner which
gives confidence is not straightforward. The list above may not tell the whole story.
Discussions with a representative from the Treviso area of Italy, where waste was
reduced by more than 10%, suggested that there are three main avenues through
which waste quantities were reduced following charging: 174
� Increases in home composting;
� Movement of commercial waste into the right avenues; and
� Genuine waste prevention.
Another issue which may be important in some contexts is that of waste tourism. In a
study for the OECD, in the case of the Spanish municipality of Torrelles de Llobregat,
we estimated that the phenomenon might account for 15% of the observed reduction
in waste quantities. 175 The municipality would have been particularly likely to give rise
173 Eunomia (2003) To Charge or Not to Charge? Final report to IWM (EB).
174 Personal communication, Paolo Conto, Consorzio Intercommunale Priula.
175 D. Hogg (2006) Impact of Unit-based Waste Collection Charges. Referred to within the text of this
report as ‘the OECD charging review’. ENV/EPOC/WGWPR(2005)10/FINAL, Paris: OECD.
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