

@mastersthesis {6337,
	title = {Evaluation of unit-based pricing programs for residential solid waste services},
	year = {1995},
	note = {9615080},
	school = {University of Pennsylvania},
	type = {phdPh.{D}.},
	address = {Ann Arbor},
	abstract = {The capacity of land-based disposal of solid waste is constantly diminishing, especially in the Northeastern cities of the United States. A solution to this crisis is to provide an incentive for residents to prevent and recycle wastes. Charging residents for waste collection/disposal on a per use basis or unit-based pricing is such an approach. Because the majority of the unit-pricing programs has begun recently, there are few empirical studies documenting waste disposal impacts and cost savings. This is the first study to collect data from individual households from multiple communities and to compare those responses to community aggregated data in an effort to evaluate the impacts of the unit-pricing programs. We designed survey methodology to collect an original data set from municipal officials and residents in 13 flat-fee and 14 unit-pricing communities in Pennsylvania. One thousand and seventy-nine survey questionnaires were mailed to the residents. The response rate from the residential survey was a respectable 61 percent. Our research shows that the technique provided not only good results that are comparable to previous studies, but enabled us to examine wider aspects of the programs. Using various statistical methods, we were able to contrast program characteristics of the flat-fee and unit-pricing groups, compare attitude and behavior of residents, assess the impact on illegal disposal activities, compute various price elasticities of waste, evaluate equity effect and estimate efficiency gain. Major conclusions are: (1) Although the unit-pricing program reduces trash disposal significantly, it has little impact on the recycling amounts; (2) The probability for residents to recycle is especially high if they own their home and are required to recycle; (3) The unit-pricing program has a positive impact on the probability of recycling paper-related materials; (4) In equity, although by itself the unit-pricing program is slightly regressive, it is relatively more progressive when compared to property taxes; (5) Residents in the unit-pricing group not only observe an increase in burning of trash, but also burn more trash than the flat-fee group.},
	keywords = {0554:Sanitation, 0768:Environmental science, 0790:Systems design, Applied sciences, Environmental science, Health and environmental sciences, sanitation, Systems design},
	url = {http://search.proquest.com/docview/304209666?accountid=14270},
	author = {Lohatepanont, Mana}
}
