Introducing and enhancing competition to improve delivery of local services of solid waste collection

Over the last two decades, Barcelona has implemented a far-reaching reform of the city's solid waste collection. In 2000, the city was divided in four zones, with four separate solid waste collection contracts being awarded to private firms, with none being allowed to obtain more than two zones...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Bel i Queralt, Germà, 1963-, Sebö, Marianna
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Recursos:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/171494
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/171494
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Recollida de residus
Reciclatge de residus
Privatització
Administració local
Refuse collection
Waste recycling
Privatization
Local government
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spelling Introducing and enhancing competition to improve delivery of local services of solid waste collectionBel i Queralt, Germà, 1963-Sebö, MariannaRecollida de residusReciclatge de residusPrivatitzacióAdministració localRefuse collectionWaste recyclingPrivatizationLocal governmentOver the last two decades, Barcelona has implemented a far-reaching reform of the city's solid waste collection. In 2000, the city was divided in four zones, with four separate solid waste collection contracts being awarded to private firms, with none being allowed to obtain more than two zones, a rule that was revised in 2009 to just one contract per firm. This division of the market via exclusive territories sought to enhance competition in the expectation of the convergence of relative costs, efficiency and service quality throughout the city. This study analyzes and evaluates the creation of lots as a tool of competition with monthly observations of costs and outputs between 2015 and 2019. Main findings are that firms producing in larger zones report higher costs, that increased competition was not sufficient to lead to converging costs, and that none of the firms operate under increasing returns to scale. Based on our results, we recommend creating an additional zone. We further suggest that if a public firm managed one of the zones, the regulator would obtain more reliable information on the service costs and technical characteristics, thus increasing her capabilities as supervisor of the private firms delivering the service in other zones.Elsevier Ltd2020info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2445/171494Articles publicats en revistes (Econometria, Estadística i Economia Aplicada)reponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UBinstname:Universidad de BarcelonaInglésVersió postprint del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2020.09.020Waste Management, 2020, vol. 118, num. December, p. 637-646https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2020.09.020cc-by-nc-nd (c) Elsevier Ltd, 2020http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/esinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/1714942026-05-27T06:46:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Introducing and enhancing competition to improve delivery of local services of solid waste collection
title Introducing and enhancing competition to improve delivery of local services of solid waste collection
spellingShingle Introducing and enhancing competition to improve delivery of local services of solid waste collection
Bel i Queralt, Germà, 1963-
Recollida de residus
Reciclatge de residus
Privatització
Administració local
Refuse collection
Waste recycling
Privatization
Local government
title_short Introducing and enhancing competition to improve delivery of local services of solid waste collection
title_full Introducing and enhancing competition to improve delivery of local services of solid waste collection
title_fullStr Introducing and enhancing competition to improve delivery of local services of solid waste collection
title_full_unstemmed Introducing and enhancing competition to improve delivery of local services of solid waste collection
title_sort Introducing and enhancing competition to improve delivery of local services of solid waste collection
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Bel i Queralt, Germà, 1963-
Sebö, Marianna
author Bel i Queralt, Germà, 1963-
author_facet Bel i Queralt, Germà, 1963-
Sebö, Marianna
author_role author
author2 Sebö, Marianna
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Recollida de residus
Reciclatge de residus
Privatització
Administració local
Refuse collection
Waste recycling
Privatization
Local government
topic Recollida de residus
Reciclatge de residus
Privatització
Administració local
Refuse collection
Waste recycling
Privatization
Local government
description Over the last two decades, Barcelona has implemented a far-reaching reform of the city's solid waste collection. In 2000, the city was divided in four zones, with four separate solid waste collection contracts being awarded to private firms, with none being allowed to obtain more than two zones, a rule that was revised in 2009 to just one contract per firm. This division of the market via exclusive territories sought to enhance competition in the expectation of the convergence of relative costs, efficiency and service quality throughout the city. This study analyzes and evaluates the creation of lots as a tool of competition with monthly observations of costs and outputs between 2015 and 2019. Main findings are that firms producing in larger zones report higher costs, that increased competition was not sufficient to lead to converging costs, and that none of the firms operate under increasing returns to scale. Based on our results, we recommend creating an additional zone. We further suggest that if a public firm managed one of the zones, the regulator would obtain more reliable information on the service costs and technical characteristics, thus increasing her capabilities as supervisor of the private firms delivering the service in other zones.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
format article
status_str acceptedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2445/171494
url https://hdl.handle.net/2445/171494
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Versió postprint del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2020.09.020
Waste Management, 2020, vol. 118, num. December, p. 637-646
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2020.09.020
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv cc-by-nc-nd (c) Elsevier Ltd, 2020
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv cc-by-nc-nd (c) Elsevier Ltd, 2020
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier Ltd
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier Ltd
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Articles publicats en revistes (Econometria, Estadística i Economia Aplicada)
reponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
instname:Universidad de Barcelona
instname_str Universidad de Barcelona
reponame_str Dipòsit Digital de la UB
collection Dipòsit Digital de la UB
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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