Explaining Cooperation in Municipal Solid Waste Management

As traditional methods of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) become increasingly expensive due to increased regulation, many local governments are considering cooperation as a waste management strategy. A theoretical model of cooperation is developed in which cooperation decisions are made as part of a dynamic cooperation process where individual units use their own characteristics and characteristics of potential cooperating partners to assess the impacts of cooperation on operational costs (characterized by economies of scale), transaction costs, autonomy risk, political risk, service level, and fiscal constraints. The model is then examined qualitatively through several case studies of solid waste regions formed in Tennessee in 1992. Insights gained from the case studies are then applied to the theoretical model to develop a probability model in which the decision Tennessee counties made to form either a single-county solid waste region or a multi-county region to develop comprehensive ten-year solid waste management plans is examined. From the case studies and the statistical model, it is found that cooperation is most likely to be observed when (1) several small entities can join to take advantages of economies of scale in collection, disposal, and recycling, (2) transaction costs are minimized by homogeneity, urban advantages, or institutional structures or individuals that facilitate cooperation, (3) most of the potential members have disposal assurance, minimizing autonomy risk, (4) entities have large decision making bodies to mitigate political risk, and (5) entities are at similar stages of program development and are similarly burdened financially.