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

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29/09/09
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland and the UK - estimate
100% MSW collection rates. The remaining countries, which by and
large are from Eastern and South-eastern Europe, reported collection
grades below 100%.
The Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland and Slovenia report collection
rates of >95%; Azerbaijan, Estonia, Greece, Hungary and Sweden 90-
95%; Bulgaria, Romania and Poland 80-85%; and Ireland 77%. The
reported minimum was 50% for Montenegro.
Where no service exists, or where it is provided, but only at very high cost,
those who are not covered have to make ‘alternative arrangements’ for their
waste. In some cases, this is likely to encourage the management of waste in
ways that are illegal (dumping), or unsociable (burning). 67 At the same time,
because there is no obvious correspondence between the charges at civic
amenity sites and charges requested of households, households could
conceivably deposit waste at civic amenity sites for lower charges;
� Failure to capitalise on economies of density in terms of logistics. The OECD
notes that the scope for competition in the market relies on the economies of
density – the more dense the area the more likely that competition in the
market will be a successful system; 68 and
� Enhanced uncertainty on the part of developers of treatment facilities, as to
whether the facility will be commercially bankable (because of the lack of
security regarding the supply of waste into the facility).
The above issues would tend to arise even where the market is a competitive one.
They may be exacerbated where the market is not competitive because only one
service provider exists, or where one is dominant in a given area. In this context, it is
worth considering the potential of the dominance of a given provider to act as a
barrier to entry to other firms, even in a market where capital requirements for
starting up waste collection enterprises are smaller than in many other industries.
The mere fact that a provider already exists implies that it is in a better position to
benefit from economies of density, with would-be competitors being unlikely to
achieve the same densities as the incumbent provider in the short-term. To attract
customers, therefore, the service provider would most likely have to seek to attract
customers at price levels below the cost of delivery, at least in the short-term. This
issue was raised in the context of a ruling by The Competition Authority: 69
67 It is not clear that backyard burning of waste is against the law. See, for example, Sue Scott and
Dorothy Watson (2006) Introduction of Weight-Based Charges for Domestic Solid Waste Disposal, Final
Report Prepared for the EPA by the Economic and Social Research Institute, (2000-DS-6-M1).
68 OECD (2000) Competition in Local Services: Solid Waste Management, DAFFE/CLP(2000)13
69 The Competition Authority (2005) Decision of The Competition Authority (Case COM/108/02)
concerning Alleged Excessive Pricing by Greenstar Holdings in the Provision of Household Waste
Collection Services in Northeast Wicklow, 30 th August 2005, available at:
http://tca.ie/search.aspx?SearchTerm=e/05/002