TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kinnaman,Thomas C.
AU  - Fullerton,Don
TI  - How a Fee Per-Unit Garbage Affects Aggregate Recycling in a Model with  Heterogeneous Households
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 4905
PY  - 1994
Y2  - October 1994
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4905
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4905.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Don Fullerton
Department of Finance
University of Illinois
BIF Box#30 (MC520)
515 East Gregory Drive
Champaign, IL  61820
Tel: 217/244-3621
Fax: 217/244-3102
E-Mail: dfullert@illinois.edu
AB  - This paper develops a utility maximizing model of household choice among garbage disposal, recycling, and littering.  The impact of a user fee for garbage collection is modelled for heterogeneous households with different preferences for recycling.  The model explains (1) why some households participate in curbside recycling programs even in the absence of a user fee, (2) why other households do not participate, even in the presence of a user fee, and (3) why some households choose to litter when others do not.  Household choices are aggregated to determine the effect of a user fee on the community-wide quantities of garbage, recycling, and litter.  We show how an increase in the user fee can decrease aggregate recycling.
ER  -