Developed countries have undertaken far-reaching policy measures to promote recycling of municipal waste. However, the understanding of the consequences of different policy measures are often less than complete. A number of promoted waste recycling policies tend to focus entirely on environmental impacts abstracting from other important costs to society. Recycling is not a free activity. It uses resources to produce resources. Hence, it is not always definite that the marginal net product is positive. The goal of this paper is to review international literature regarding different approaches to economic and ecological efficiency related to waste treatment policies. The recycle of waste is a function of economic and non-economic influence. We consider what is meant by efficient recycling policies via examining such concepts as social optimality, cost-efficiency, non-economic efficiency in the sense of affecting behavior and eco-efficiency.
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