Files
Abstract
Waste management is a global conservation issue and efforts continue in an attempt to reduce, reuse and recycle waste that is collected.. In an effort to reduce the amount of waste entering landfills, the Florida Legislature adopted a goal that aims to achieve 75% recycling rate of municipal solid waste collected by 2020. This paper examines the current state policy tools in increasing recycling while controlling for socioeconomic factors that may affect recycling rate. We estimated the effect by difference in difference regression method and compared the pre- and post-treatment effects of these policies using county level panel data from 2001 to 2013. Our results indicate that that there is a positive treatment effect on recycling rate, especially with regards to public educational outreach. The existence of a mandatory commercial recycling policy also had a positive association with the increase in commercial recycling rate and influenced the overall recycling rate.