Viable eco-efficiency targets for waste collection communities

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Economics
• Public Administration

Background:

• Effective waste management is essential for the circular economy.
• Italy organizes municipalities into collaborative waste collection communities (ATOs).
• Assessing and improving eco-efficiency within these communities is a key challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a quantitative approach for estimating viable eco-efficiency targets for waste collection communities.
• To provide a methodology for benchmarking municipalities against similar contexts.
• To identify factors influencing eco-efficiency within Italian ATOs.

Main Methods:

• Conditional efficiency analysis was employed.
• A quantitative approach was developed to estimate eco-efficiency targets.
• Benchmarking was performed against similar municipalities within the same community.

Main Results:

• The analysis focused on 89 municipalities in the ATO 'Città metropolitana di Roma Capitale' in 2021.
• Municipal size and economic development were identified as significant contributors to viable eco-efficiency.
• A pathway for municipalities to reach the eco-efficiency frontier was determined based on external factors.

Conclusions:

• The proposed approach offers viable and eco-efficient targets tailored to specific waste communities.
• The methodology is generalizable to other Italian and European municipalities.
• The approach can be extended to regional and national levels of analysis.