Keywords
eco-efficiency
data envelopment analysis (DEA)
local government
circular economy
How to Cite
Abstract
Co-efficiency in local government units represents a management philosophy focused on achieving three objectives: optimizing costs of providing local public services, minimizing their environmental impact, and ensuring high quality of life for residents. This comprehensive approach to evaluating municipal waste management systems considers both the need to minimize operational costs that affect fees paid by residents, as well as the necessity to reduce the negative impact of waste on society and the environment. Despite growing interest among researchers in the concept of eco-efficiency in local government, there is a lack of comprehensive empirical research evaluating waste management systems in Poland through the lens of this concept.
In response to this research gap, this article presents the results of municipal waste management analysis conducted in 2023 in Polish cities constituting the cores of urban functional areas. The main objective of the study was to conduct a comprehensive comparative analysis of technical efficiency and eco-efficiency of waste management systems in the evaluated local government units. The research addresses challenges faced by Polish local governments related to implementing the circular economy concept and meeting obligations imposed by the European Union regarding specific municipal waste recycling targets and landfill reduction requirements. The research approach employed a two-stage methodology: first measuring technical efficiency and eco-efficiency of waste management using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method with a non-oriented model assuming constant returns to scale, and then assessing the impact of environmental variables on the obtained efficiency indicators using Kendall’s tau correlation coefficient. The average level of efficiency indicators in 2023 was approximately 0.6, indicating a significant need for improvement in the functioning of waste management systems in the evaluated cities. The empirical analysis identified the main factors determining the efficiency of municipal waste management in the evaluated Polish cities: education level of the residents, the mass of generated waste, and the tourist activity of the city. Based on the obtained results, recommendations were formulated providing practical guidelines for the decision-makers regarding the improvement of waste management systems in the examined local government units.
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