The intermunicipal cooperation in municipal solid waste management
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | We examine the effects of intermunicipal cooperation (IMC) in the area of municipal solid waste management. Due to the increasing environmental awareness, growing costs and subsequent pressure on municipal budgets this becomes an important issue. Current European strategy of creating a circular economy can also benefit from improving situation in the waste management. Our research shows that municipalities participating in some form of intermunicipal cooperation, in Czech case voluntary municipal associations, consistently show savings in the area of municipal solid waste management. According to our results the savings are around 6%. We attribute this mostly to the improved negotiation power of the associations when dealing with the waste management companies resulting in better contracts, or alternatively creating own waste management company that becomes economically viable with sufficient amount of municipalities participating in the association. In addition to the lower costs, cooperating municipalities are usually also able to provide better quality of service. Based on interviews with the local authorities, cooperating municipalities often share parts of their infrastructure (biodegradable waste treatments plants, civic amenities sites, etc.), are better at sharing their knowledge and experience, and thus further improve the service. In our further research we will focus on more detailed analysis of qualitative aspects in waste management resulting from intermunicipal cooperation and the effects of intermunicipal cooperation on generation of various waste fractions. |
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