With rising affluence and growing consumption, managing waste has become one of the most worrying issues in environmental economics. For municipal waste management, the main problem is to correct an imbalance in the quantity of waste produced and the means of its disposal. This occurs because the pricing mechanisms of the free market do not take account of externalities such as disposal costs and damage costs arising from the usage of raw materials. This results in a market failure.
Due to the growing problem of finding landfill sites, governments have introduced initiatives to reduce waste. Recycling has been seen as a way of minimising overall waste output and becoming more sustainable.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
