Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1063231 Resources, Conservation and Recycling 2012 11 Pages PDF
Abstract

In Portugal, municipalities have been entrusted with a growing number of powers and responsibilities, together with budget restrictions. Therefore, refuse collection services have gained particular interest since in most municipalities their revenues represent only a small part of the real costs. Therefore, in this paper, we look for the sound practices and their major determinants in the refuse collection service in Portugal. We apply distinct non-parametric techniques, such as data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the new robust methodologies of bootstrap and order-m for this purpose. The latter was also used to evaluate the relevance of the operational environment in the refuse collection service in Portugal. The results show that there is room for efficiency improvement.

► The paper measures the performance of refuse collection service in Portugal. ► It applies for the first time robust non-parametric methods to measure refuse collection services efficiency. ► The influence of operational environment is evaluated through non-parametric techniques. ► Efficiency increases with the level of autonomy from the municipality and with outsourcing.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Energy Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
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