The waste management sector has undergone significant changes these past years such as the move away from waste landfills, in particular small local ones, and the increased use of incinerators.

After a first discussion held in 1999, Competition delegates explored Competition Issues in Waste Management in their meeting in October 2013.

The discussion examined the various stages of the waste treatment process: collection, treatment or disposal with a special attention to the effect of the introduction of extended producer responsibility, a policy approach under which producers accept significant responsibility - financial and/or physical - for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products. This indeed has led to the creation of a variety of schemes aimed at fulfilling this responsibility, has supported the achievement of public recycling and materials management goals and has created a number of new markets in which the raw material originated from the recycling process is sold. 

DOWNLOADS

Full set of meeting documents (pdf) including:
executive summary with key findings, background note,
26 country contributions and a detailed summary of the discussion.

Presentation by Dr. Massarutto,(DIES, University of Udine, Italy)
Panellist present at the October 2013 discussion 

RELATED DISCUSSIONS

• Competition in Local Services: Solid Waste Management, 1999 (pdf)
• Horizontal Agreements in the Environmental Context, 2010 (pdf)
• State Owned Enterprises and the Principle of Competitive Neutrality, 2009 (pdf)
• Competition in Local Services: Competition in Bidding Markets, 2006 (pdf)
• Extended Producer Responsibility, OECD Environment policy tool

SEE ALSO

All Competition Policy Roundtables

Other Competition issues under discussion

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