Author: Peter Bohm
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description

Author: Finn Arne Jørgensen
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 0813550548
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Making a Green Machine examines the development of the Scandinavian beverage container deposit-refund system, which has the highest return rates in the world, from 1970 to present. Finn Arne Jorgensen's comparative framework charts the complex network of business and political actors involved in the development of the reverse vending machine (RVM) and bottle deposit legislation to better understand the different historical trajectories empty beverage containers have taken across markets, including the U.S. The RVM began simply as a tool for grocers who had to handle empty refillable glass bottles, but has become a green machine to redeem the empty beverage container, helping both business and consumers participate in environmental actions.

Author: Karen Palmer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Recycling (Waste, etc.)
Languages : en
Pages : 30

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Book Description

Author: Magnus Hennlock
Publisher: Nordic Council of Ministers
ISBN: 9289338911
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
Achieving a high quality of waste plastic materials and recycling processes is a key challenge in closing the resource loops for plastics. This report reviews the status and trends for plastic waste flows and treatment in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Furthermore, it gives an overview of existing policy instruments and the main challenges for designing policy instruments for improved recycling of plastic waste in these Nordic countries. The report identifies potential market failures associated with closing the resource loops for plastics. It reviews the economics research literature on policy instrument design for achieving optimal recycling rates and makes policy recommendations from the Nordic perspective. Finally, it presents results from a survey on market conditions to managers in the recycling and plastic manufacturing industry in Sweden.

Author: Frank Ackerman
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1597267880
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
The earnest warnings of an impending "solid waste crisis" that permeated the 1980s provided the impetus for the widespread adoption of municipal recycling programs. Since that time America has witnessed a remarkable rise in public participation in recycling activities, including curbside collection, drop-off centers, and commercial and office programs. Recently, however, a backlash against these programs has developed. A vocal group of "anti-recyclers" has appeared, arguing that recycling is not an economically efficient strategy for addressing waste management problems. In Why Do We Recycle? Frank Ackerman examines the arguments for and against recycling, focusing on the debate surrounding the use of economic mechanisms to determine the value of recycling. Based on previously unpublished research conducted by the Tellus Institute, a nonprofit environmental research group in Boston, Massachusetts, Ackerman presents an alternative view of the theory of market incentives, challenging the notion that setting appropriate prices and allowing unfettered competition will result in the most efficient level of recycling. Among the topics he considers are: externality issues -- unit pricing for waste disposal, effluent taxes, virgin materials subsidies, advance disposal fees the landfill crisis and disposal facility siting container deposit ("bottle bill") legislation environmental issues that fall outside of market theory calculating costs and benefits of municipal recycling programs life-cycle analysis and packaging policy -- Germany's "Green Dot" packaging system and producer responsibility the impacts of production in extractive and manufacturing industries composting and organic waste management economics of conservation, and material use and long-term sustainability Ackerman explains why purely economic approaches to recycling are incomplete and argues for a different kind of decisionmaking, one that addresses social issues, future as well as present resource needs, and non-economic values that cannot be translated into dollars and cents. Backed by empirical data and replete with specific examples, the book offers valuable guidance for municipal planners, environmental managers, and policymakers responsible for establishing and implementing recycling programs. It is also an accessible introduction to the subject for faculty, students, and concerned citizens interested in the social, economic, and ethical underpinnings of recycling efforts.

Author: Mario Pessoa
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513577042
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 29

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Book Description
The value-added tax (VAT) has the potential to generate significant government revenue. Despite its intrinsic self-enforcement capacity, many tax administrations find it challenging to refund excess input credits, which is critical to a well-functioning VAT system. Improperly functioning VAT refund practices can have profound implications for fiscal policy and management, including inaccurate deficit measurement, spending overruns, poor budget credibility, impaired treasury operations, and arrears accumulation.This note addresses the following issues: (1) What are VAT refunds and why should they be managed properly? (2) What practices should be put in place (in tax policy, tax administration, budget and treasury management, debt, and fiscal statistics) to help manage key aspects of VAT refunds? For a refund mechanism to be credible, the tax administration must ensure that it is equipped with the strategies, processes, and abilities needed to identify VAT refund fraud. It must also be prepared to act quickly to combat such fraud/schemes.

Author: Paul Portney
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136524797
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
The first edition of Public Policies for Environmental Protection contributed significantly to the incorporation of economic analysis in the study of environmental policy. Fully revised to account for changes in the institutional, legal, and regulatory framework of environmental policy, the second edition features updated chapters on the EPA and federal regulation, air and water pollution policy, and hazardous and toxic substances. It includes entirely new chapters on market-based environmental policies, global climate change, solid waste, and, for the first time, coverage of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Portney, Stavins, and their contributors provide an invaluable resource for researchers, policymakers, industry professionals, and journalists---anyone who needs up-to-date information on U.S. environmental policy. With their careful explanation of policy alternatives, the authors provide an ideal book for students in courses about environmental economics or environmental politics.

Author: Ms.Thornton Matheson
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513521586
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
This paper provides an overview of global solid waste generation, its environmental costs, and fiscal instruments that can be used to encourage waste reduction and finance proper disposal. Countries—especially island nations--struggle to manage an ever-increasing volume of solid waste, generation of which is projected to exceed 2 billion tons a year by 2025. Although solid waste management is usually relegated to subnational governments, externalities from inadequate management, which include greenhouse gas emissions and ocean plastic pollution, reach global scale. National governments thus play a critical role in creating incentives for waste minimization and ensuring adequate resources for proper waste management. This paper evaluates potential fiscal instruments to achieve these goals, particularly in developing country policy environments.

Author: Wendy Pratt Cuckovich
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description

Author: Graciela Chichilnisky
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401148929
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
of ecological (also biological) variables b which interact in their dynamic t evolution: det dbt dt = f (et, bt)' dt = 9 (et, bt)· Among the solution paths to this interaction between economic and ecologi cal variables, we look for those which are sustainable. Sustainable paths are typically those along which the values of certain key stocks are always pos itive, these key stocks being important environmental resources. The types of paths on which certain variables can be positive forever include station ary solutions with appropriate positivity conditions, or limit cycles or chaotic attractors satisfying the same positivity conditions. These paths, and the paths which approach them, constitute the set of sustainable paths. From amongst these we have to choose one or more which are in some sense the best. Note that rather than imposing positivity of certain stocks in the long run as a condition for sustainability, we would prefer to derive this as a characteristic of optimal solutions from more fundamental judgements about the valuation of stocks and flows: this is the route pursued by the papers in this volume. The introductory paper by Heal in Section I reviews these matters in gen eral terms, not going into technical details: it discusses the precedents for a concept of sustainability in welfare economics, and reviews alternative opti mality concepts and their connection to sustainability.