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

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� In 2003 Dijkgraaf and Gradus similarly estimated cost savings of approx. 15-
20% from contracting out refuse collection in the Netherlands. 79
� A survey by the Norwegian Competition Authority suggests that quality was not
significantly affected by competitive tendering in Norway. 39% of the
municipalities surveyed said that quality had increased and 52% said that
quality had stayed the same with competitive tendering. Only 8% of the
municipalities surveyed said that quality had deteriorated.
� A UK study found that in the case where a contract is competitively tendered
to an outside private contractor, three-quarters of the 22% cost savings
identified can be attributed to improvements in technical efficiency (i.e., more
efficient use of workers and capital equipment) rather than lower input prices.
3.4 Other Country Experience of Competition in the Market
In this Section, we briefly review the situation in one other country which has adopted
the approach of competition in the market, and comment more briefly on the
experience of another.
3.4.1 Poland
Poland has a similar waste management system in operation to Ireland. Similar local
governmental systems exist with the addition of a district level (municipality, district
and regional levels). Many services were privatised following the introduction of a
democratic rule in Poland. Householders and business pay a fee to waste operators
for a waste collection / disposal service. Household waste fees are set dependent on
the size of container and the frequency of collection chosen. Each household is
obliged to maintain a contract with a waste operator. However, the low rate of service
coverage shows that this control is lacking and waste producers have opted-out of the
service.
An article published in the European Environmental Press claims that the high
fragmentation of the waste collection market results in very low standards of
service. 80 It has been noted that the economics are unfavourable because of the
collection inefficiencies resulting from different collection companies collect waste
from households on the same street.
Due to the set up of the system, where there is no financing of the waste
management system from central government, means that waste management
cannot be organised as government might wish. Movement up the waste hierarchy,
79 Strictly speaking, this example does not highlight the benefits of competition for, as opposed to
competition in, the market. Rather, it suggests lower cost from a tendered service than one provided by
a local authority beforehand.
80 EEP (2008) Systematic waste management systems lacking in Poland says EU, Published March
14 th 2008, Accessed 13 th October 2008, http://waste.environmentalexpert.com/resultEachPressRelease.aspx?cid=6725&codi=28996&idproducttype=8&level=0
29/09/09