A comparison of public policies for lead recycling
Policies that encourage recycling may be used to reduce environmental costs from waste disposal when direct restrictions on disposal are difficult to enforce. Four recycling policies have been advanced: (i) taxes on the use of virgin materials; (ii) deposit/refund programs; (iii) subsidies to recycl...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
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MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
2009
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/50216 |
| _version_ | 1811091624886796288 |
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| author | Sigman, Hilary |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research. |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research. Sigman, Hilary |
| author_sort | Sigman, Hilary |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Policies that encourage recycling may be used to reduce environmental costs from waste disposal when direct restrictions on disposal are difficult to enforce. Four recycling policies have been advanced: (i) taxes on the use of virgin materials; (ii) deposit/refund programs; (iii) subsidies to recycled material production; and (iv) recycled content standards. This study analyzes the structure of these policies and ranks them in terms of the private costs necessary to achieve a given reduction in disposal. the policies are then examined in the empirical context of the recycling of lead from automobile batteries. Elasticities for primary and secondary lead supply and demand are estimated in order to simulate the effects of lead recycling programs. The results suggest that price-based policy mechanisms can be successful in increasing lead recovery and that the difference in efficiency between the four approaches is substantial. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:05:20Z |
| format | Working Paper |
| id | mit-1721.1/50216 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:05:20Z |
| publishDate | 2009 |
| publisher | MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/502162019-04-12T23:31:15Z A comparison of public policies for lead recycling Sigman, Hilary Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research. Policies that encourage recycling may be used to reduce environmental costs from waste disposal when direct restrictions on disposal are difficult to enforce. Four recycling policies have been advanced: (i) taxes on the use of virgin materials; (ii) deposit/refund programs; (iii) subsidies to recycled material production; and (iv) recycled content standards. This study analyzes the structure of these policies and ranks them in terms of the private costs necessary to achieve a given reduction in disposal. the policies are then examined in the empirical context of the recycling of lead from automobile batteries. Elasticities for primary and secondary lead supply and demand are estimated in order to simulate the effects of lead recycling programs. The results suggest that price-based policy mechanisms can be successful in increasing lead recovery and that the difference in efficiency between the four approaches is substantial. Supported by the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research. 2009-12-16T00:01:18Z 2009-12-16T00:01:18Z 1992 Working Paper 92007 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/50216 35721305 MIT-CEEPR (Series) ; 92-007WP. 47 p application/pdf MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research |
| spellingShingle | Sigman, Hilary A comparison of public policies for lead recycling |
| title | A comparison of public policies for lead recycling |
| title_full | A comparison of public policies for lead recycling |
| title_fullStr | A comparison of public policies for lead recycling |
| title_full_unstemmed | A comparison of public policies for lead recycling |
| title_short | A comparison of public policies for lead recycling |
| title_sort | comparison of public policies for lead recycling |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/50216 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sigmanhilary acomparisonofpublicpoliciesforleadrecycling AT sigmanhilary comparisonofpublicpoliciesforleadrecycling |