The EU Waste Framework Directive - examining performances in waste management and the reasons on why it differs across countries

Abstract

This thesis aims to investigate the development of municipal waste management in the European Union through conducting a cross-country study over 27 countries between 2008-2020. The study uses the Waste Framework Directive, implemented in 2008, and associated Waste Hierarchy to evaluate how EU countries have succeeded to comply with the goals established by the Waste Framework Directive. In addition, various factors that promote different parts of the hierarchy are evaluated. Three two-way fixed effects regressions were run to see what variables affect recycling rates, energy recovery and waste disposal. Independent variables were added gradually which resulted in several significant variables. Our findings indicate that the most significant independent variables were government effectiveness, GDP per capita and investment in research and development. These findings suggest that efficient waste management is dependent on a country’s governance, GDP per capita and policies in place. These variables are interconnected, since government effectiveness is reliant on GDP per capita making the result expected. In addition, the establishment of a deposit refund system was found significant for recycling rates - implying the importance of implementing waste related policies. Other explanatory variables showed lower significance, such as population density and tax on waste. A conclusion drawn from the study is that municipal waste management is likely to improve with higher GDP, good governance and the implementation of waste related policies.