A critical review of economic valuation studies of externalities from incineration and landfilling

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to assist waste management researchers, decision-makers and waste managers at national, regional and local levels, in their decision-making processes, with most recent valuations on the environmental and social costs of externalities associated with various pollutants and disamenities related to landfilling and incineration of municipal solid waste. The aim was achieved by mapping, gathering, analysing, comparing and synthesizing various valuation estimates, based on a thorough review of existing literature. This study provides the first comprehensive review and analysis focused on primary and secondary valuation studies, conducted since 1990. The second objective was to assess the appropriateness and reliability of the valuation methods and techniques that were performed in the reviewed studies. The results of the review are summarized in tables, organized by topics and units of measure and in addition a classified list that describes the profile of the reviewed studies is provided. The results are then analysed and compared, and recommended ranges of the values are presented. The study reveals inconsistency in part of the estimates across the reviewed studies and provides reasonable explanations for the variations. Given the nature of uncertainty, and the difficulties associated with transferring values among different places and cases, these values should be considered mostly as an indication for the order of magnitude of the externalities. Nevertheless, these essential estimates of the external costs can beneficially be used with proper adjustment for each individual case to address important policy questions regarding landfilling and incineration of waste.

On the efficiency of composting organic wastes

“…Calculations of ϕ 1 and ϕ 2 —the compost‐production cost parameters—were from Pluda (2002), based on the windrow‐composting method, which is known to be cheaper than the alternative techniques of anaerobic digestion and in‐vessel composting (Karagiannidis and Perkoulidis, 2009; Komilis and Ham, 2004). The variable cost, ϕ 2 , includes external cost associated with N 2 O emissions, in terms of effective greenhouse gas, which is equal to the emission of 11 g per ton (Avnimelech et al, 2005) multiplied by the damage of $11.2/kg N 2 O (Eshet et al, 2005); this amounts to $0.12 per ton of compost. Compost application costs, ψ, and all other non‐compost‐related costs, ω m , were taken from sample cost calculations reported by IMARD (2008).…”

Price and Substitution in Residential Solid Waste

“…The external costs of incineration are primarily found in the air pollution created by the garbage incinerated, and it is assumed that these are the only variable external costs. A review by Eshet et al (2005) summarizes the external costs found in the literature on waste incineration. This range of estimates summarizes a variety of measurement estimation techniques for a variety of demographic and geographic locations.…”

La régulation de la mise en décharge de déchets ; fondements et instruments

“…Parmi les travaux de synthèse aboutissant à une monétarisation d'impacts environnementaux, on peut citer : -Eshet et autres auteurs de l'université de Haïfa [2], qui passent en revue les résultats d'une douzaine d'études menées dans le monde depuis 1990 ; -pour la Commission européenne (DG Environnement), les rapports ExternE [3], ETSU [4], Coopers-Lybrand, CSERGE et EFTEC [5], ERM [6], COWI [7] et Eunomia [8] ; -pour le ministère britannique de l'Environnement (DoE, DEFRA), d'autres rapports de CSERGE, EFTEC et Warren Spring Laboratory [9] et de Coopers-Lybrand [10], ainsi que la synthèse de Davies et Doble [11], qui travaillent dans ce ministère ; -en France, l'étude du CEMAGREF pour l'ADEME [12] COWI [7], sur la base de diverses études, affiche une fourchette large, allant de 1 à 23 € par tonne de déchets municipaux mis en décharge. …”