Abstract
The generation and disposal of municpal solid waste (MSW) appears to have become an important policy problem in all industrialised economies. The OECD Member countries produced, according to official statistics, 420 million tonnes of MSW annually in the late 1980s. The precise composition of this waste varied from country to country, but in most countries packaging, it has been claimed, has become a significant proportion of the total (15%-50%). Table 1 presents estimates of the total amount of packaging waste in the EC and the level of recycling activity. Waste disposal practices also vary both between countries and across regions within countries. But with some exceptions (e.g. Japan, Denmark and Switzerland) a majority of industralised economies dispose of the bulk of their MSW via landfill.
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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Turner, R.K., Pearce, D. (1994). The Role of Economic Instruments in Solid Waste Management Policy. In: Opschoor, H., Turner, K. (eds) Economic Incentives and Environmental Policies. Environment, Science and Society, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0856-0_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0856-0_12
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