Separate waste collection performance and institutional quality in Italy

What is it about?

Separate waste collection in Italy is under the responsibilities of local authorities, provinces, while national laws set quantitative targets to be achieved over time. Overall, just a few provinces have reached the thresholds set by the latest law (Legislative Decree 152/2006) and some territorial differentiation has been detected. The aim of this paper is twofold: verify the effectiveness of Legislative Decree 152/2006 in promoting higher level of separate collection and test if the institutional quality (considering the following indicators: voice and accountability, regulatory quality, rule of law and corruption) affects the provinces’ efficiency in the separate collection process. Results suggest that effectiveness of Legislative Decree 152/2006 has been affected by provinces institutional quality. In particular, the presence of institutional constraints did not allow to the most virtuous provinces to achieve the targets set by law.

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Why is it important?

The results of our paper support the idea that more effort will be needed in most Italian provinces in order to enhance the institutional quality as prerequisite for a more efficient separate waste collection system. In particular, the organized crimes and law enforcements activities strongly affect the waste management performances among provinces in Italy