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

make both decisions. 890 Policies of this type do, therefore, affect different agents in
different ways, hence increasing the complexity of any analysis.
The review given here firstly outlines the policies, prior to summarising specifics
within the individual countries, then describes the environmental benefits associated
with a reduction in the quantity of waste disposed.
A caveat around the definition of ‘municipal’ waste is important to note. Differing
countries will include various waste streams in their national definitions making
comparison difficult. This is true, more generally, for statistics concerning municipal
waste derived by e.g. EUROSTAT and the European Environment Agency.
52.1 Outline of Policy
52.1.1 Waste Taxes
Waste taxes are applied to either landfill, or to both landfill and incineration. They are
usually set on the basis of the weight of material sent to the facility, but some taxes,
notably those for incineration, are now being designed with the intention of
addressing the level of air emissions in a direct manner.
Of the two main types of tax applied, landfill taxes are the more widely used of the
two. The main aim of these fiscal measures is to discourage the management of
residual waste through processes that generate significant levels of environmental
pollution, thereby promoting prevention and re-use, recycling, and alternative residual
technologies. In addition they may be implemented to force landfill operators to
upgrade technology and increase measures for pollution reduction.
Economic instruments, such as taxes, are seen as appropriate tools for implementing
the “polluter pays” principle, which has become the widely accepted framework for
internalising environmental externalities. 891 However, relatively few countries have
based their tax rates upon an estimate of the external costs of landfilling or
incineration. Some exceptions are the UK landfill tax 892 , and the Norwegian tax on
pollutants from incineration. 893
Although market based instruments, such as taxes, are deemed to be more efficient
as a mechanism for changing behaviour (because in theory, market based systems
equalize the marginal level of pollution abatement costs among firms, and hence
890 H. Bartelings, P. van Beukering, O. Kuik, V. Linderhof, F. Oosterhuis, L. Brander and A. Wagtendonk
(2005) Effectiveness of Landfill Taxation, R-05/05, Report Commissioned by Ministerie von VROM,
November 24, 2005
891 European Environment Agency (2005) Market-based instruments for environmental policy in
Europe, EEA Technical report No 8/2005,
http://reports.eea.europa.eu/technical_report_2005_8/en/EEA_technical_report_8_2005.pdf
892 See CSERGE, EFTEC and Warren Spring Laboratory (1993) Externalities from Landfill and
Incineration, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
893 See T H Martinsen and E Vassnes (2004) Waste Tax in Norway, in OECD (2004) Addressing the
Economics of Waste, Paris: OECD.
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