Assessing the Effectiveness of Denmark's Waste Tax

Abstract

By the mid-l980s, Denmark had a serious waste disposal problem: Its per capita generation of waste was among the highest in Europe and rising; it was running out of landfill space, with Copenhagen set to exhaust its landfill capacity in a short time; and there was a great deal of concern about air pollution from incinerators. Denmark responded to this situation by adopting a comprehensive waste management policy that included an innovative tax on waste designed to promote the reuse and recycling of many types of waste. Now that the tax has been in place for a decade, there is enough data to assess its effectiveness. Such an assessment has implications that extend far beyond Denmark. To date, six other countries in Europe (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) have adopted waste taxes at the national level, and two others (Norway and Sweden) are considering them.