The market of municipal solid waste (MSW) collection and disposal has changed substantially over the past thirty years. This study will help guide both newcomers and past contributors through the fundamental aspects of policies designed to reduce the external costs of MSW collection, and the important empirical relationships that, in the end, govern the selection of MSW policies. The International Library of Environmental Economics and Policy explores the influence of economics on the development of environmental and natural resource policy. In a series of twenty-five volumes, the most significant journal essays in key areas of contemporary environmental and resource policy are collected. Scholars who are recognized for their expertise and contribution to the literature in the various research areas serve as volume editors and write essays that provides the context for the collection. Volumes in the series reflect three broad strands of economic research including 1) Natural and Environmental Resources, 2) Policy Instruments and Institutions and 3) Methodology. The editors, in their introduction to each volume, provide a state-of-the-art overview of the topic and explain the influence and relevance of the collected papers on the development of policy. This reference series provides access to the economic literature that has shaped contemporary perspectives on land use analysis and policy.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Part I: Theoretical Aspects of Policy Alternatives: Dynamics of waste accumulation: disposal versus recycling, Vernon L. Smith; Fundamental economic comparisons of solid waste policy options, Allen K. Miedema; International trade in waste products in the presence of illegal disposal, Brian R. Copeland; Economic efficiency effects of alternative policies for reducing waste disposal, Terry M. Dinan; Garbage, recycling, and illicit burning or dumping, Don Fullerton and Thomas C. Kinnaman; Optimal policies for solid waste disposal taxes, subsidies, and standards, Karen Palmer and Margaret Walls; Policies for green design, Don Fullerton and Wenbo Wu; Can downstream waste disposal policies encourage upstream "Design for Environment"?, Paul Calcott and Margaret Walls; Spatially and intertemporally efficient waste management: the costs of interstate trade restrictions, Eduardo Ley, Molly K. Macauley and Stephen W. Salant. Part II: Empirical Aspects of Policy Alternatives: Scale, market structure, and the cost of refuse collection, Barbara J. Stevens; Economic analysis of the composition of household solid wastes, Robert A. Richardson and Joseph Havlicek, Jr.; Pay-by-the-bag household collection charges to manage municipal solid waste, Robin Jenkins; An economic analysis of household recycling of solid wastes: the case of Portland, Oregon, Seonghoon Hong, Richard M. Adams and H. Alan Love; Motivating recycling: a marginal cost analysis, Rebecca Judge and Anthony Becker; Market incentives to encourage household waste recycling: paying for what you throw away, James D. Reschovsky and Sarah E. Stone; Packaging taxes and recycling incentives: the German green dot program, Ada S. Rousso and Shvetank P. Shah; The organization and efficiency of residential recycling services, Wayne Carroll; The demand for solid waste disposal, James G. Strathman, Anthony M. Rufolo and Gerard C. S. Mildner; Household responses to pricing garbage by the bag, Don Fullerton and Thomas C. Kinnaman; The impact of state and local policies on the recycling effort, Scott J. Callan and Janet M. Thomas; The cost of reducing municipal solid waste, Karen Palmer, Hilary Sigman and Margaret Walls; Household willingness to pay for dropoff recycling, Kelly H.Tiller, Paul M. Jakus and William M. Park; Assessing incentive-based environmental policies for reducing household waste disposal, Deborah Vaughn Nestor and Michael J. Podolsky; Municipal waste disposal: unit-pricing and recycling opportunities, Michael J. Podolsky and Menahem Spiegel; Flow control and rent capture in solid waste management, Natalie Tawil; Garbage and recycling with endogenous local policy, Thomas C. Kinnaman and Don Fullerton; Name index.