Government Policy and Private Organizational Forms: Analysis of Refuse Collection and Disposal in Three Metropolitan Cities

Abstract

This study explores refuse collection as a municipal service using qualitative methods to examine how government makes decisisons about residential refuse coiiection services in Portland, Gresham, and Beaverton, Oregon. The study explores the history of refuse coiiection in these three cities to identify factors that influence bureaucratic behavior and decision making when selecting a municipal service delivery option for refuse collection. Public choice and public policy analysis theory are used to discuss those non-monetary considerations present when government makes decisions about service arrangements. Qualitative data was coiiected from public officials and private haulers involved in refuse coiiection in the three cities. This qualitative process was to capture, in context, the development of the industry. The use of a single criterion in determining choice of private organizational forms may not create the results desired by municipal governments. Choice in the selection of a service arrangement has two