Determinants of municipal solid waste management in Portugal

Resumo

Municipal solid waste management has been a topic of interest of several authors over time, in particular the implementation and maintenance of waste collection programmes. Initially, pioneering studies focused on the economic aspects of the provided services. However, many authors later argued the costs of providing solid waste collection services should also be influenced by socio-economic and behavioural factors, exogenous to the municipalities. The present study will be developed in this context, looking, more broadly, to explain the factors influencing the decision-making of the Portuguese municipalities in implementing and maintaining programs of selective collection of solid waste, considering the economic, financial, technological and sociodemographic factors. The results show that, indeed as presented by several authors before, economic factors aren’t the only determinants that influence municipal costs concerning these services, as demographic, geographic and technological factors must be taken into account. Moreover, the enforced legislation also impacts the municipal costs due to municipalities being obliged to contribute to the success of these collection programs in order to fulfil the waste recovery targets. This implies that the costs of these services and the inherent infrastructures are usually financed by its citizens in the form of utilization taxes and also the state.