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Behavioral spillovers from food-waste collection in Swedish municipalities

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  • Ek, Claes
  • Miliute-Plepiene, Jurate

Abstract

We estimate behavioral spillovers from environmental policy within the context of a natural experiment on food waste in Sweden. Exploiting the staggered implementation of food-waste collection across Swedish municipalities, we use a difference-in-difference design to measure the causal effect of introducing such collection on another pro-environmental behavior, namely the sorting of packaging waste. Results suggest a positive spillover effect on packaging waste which corresponds to 5–10% of the population average and rises gradually over time, possibly due to slow implementation of food-waste collection in many municipalities. These estimates are unconfounded with a number of shifts in the waste-related incentives facing households, e.g. introduction of curbside collection of packaging waste from single-family homes. Although we are unable to directly account for all such factors, indirect robustness tests provide no compelling evidence that estimated spillovers are spurious.

Suggested Citation

  • Ek, Claes & Miliute-Plepiene, Jurate, 2018. "Behavioral spillovers from food-waste collection in Swedish municipalities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 168-186.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:89:y:2018:i:c:p:168-186
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2018.01.004
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    Cited by:

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    2. Ishimura, Yuichi, 2022. "The effects of the containers and packaging recycling law on the domestic recycling of plastic waste: Evidence from Japan," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    3. Alacevich, Caterina & Bonev, Petyo & Söderberg, Magnus, 2021. "Pro-environmental interventions and behavioral spillovers: Evidence from organic waste sorting in Sweden," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    4. Nafziger, Julia, 2020. "Spillover effects of nudges," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    5. Alexander K. Koch & Dan Mønster & Julia Nafziger, 2023. "Nudging in complex environments," Economics Working Papers 2023-06, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    6. Ghinoi, Stefano & Silvestri, Francesco & Steiner, Bodo, 2020. "The role of local stakeholders in disseminating knowledge for supporting the circular economy: a network analysis approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    7. Bonev, Petyo, 2023. "Behavioral Spillovers," Economics Working Paper Series 2303, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    8. Bonan, Jacopo & Cattaneo, Cristina & D'Adda, Giovanna & Galliera, Arianna & Tavoni, Massimo, 2023. "Widening the Scope: The Direct and Spillover Effects of Nudging Water Efficiency in the Presence of Other Behavioral Interventions," RFF Working Paper Series 23-46, Resources for the Future.
    9. Hirotaka Kumamaru & Kenji Takeuchi, 2023. "The recycled content of plastic products: estimating the impact of a recycling law on the input mix," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 25(3), pages 355-376, July.
    10. De Silva, Lihini & Taylor, Rebecca, 2021. "If you build it, they will compost: The effects of municipal composting services on household waste generation," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313874, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Marta Suárez-Varela & Ariel Dinar, 2020. "The Role of Curtailment Versus Efficiency on Spillovers Among Pro-Environmental Behaviors: Evidence from Two Towns in Granada, Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-24, January.
    12. Shu Yang & Peng Cheng & Shanyong Wang & Jun Li, 2021. "Towards Sustainable Cities: The Spillover Effects of Waste-Sorting Policies on Sustainable Consumption," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-16, October.
    13. d'Amato, Alessio & Goeschl, Timo & Lorè, Luisa & Zoli, Mariangela, 2020. "Date Marks, Valuation, and Food Waste: Three In-Store ‘Eggsperiments’," Working Papers 0693, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental behavior; Recycling; Behavioral spillovers; Food waste; Packaging waste;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

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