Waste Management
One of the earliest sectors to be opened up to competition and contracting was municipal waste management. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, this resulted in a vigorous academic debate over the benefits of contracting for public services. This section references the key documents in that debate.
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Competition and Efficiency in Refuse Collection: A Reply Domberger, Simon; Meadowcroft, Shirley and Thompson, David , 1988 Fiscal Studies, 9(1), pp.86-90 In this reply to Ganley and Grahl's critical comment (1988, also listed on the Resource Centre), the authors defend themselves from methodological criticism and re-iterate the validity of their original findings: in municpalities where there is competition, refuse collection is around 20% cheaper than where uncontested public monopoly prevails. UK
Household Refuse Collection Case Study
Industry Commission, 1996
Australian Government Publishing Service
The Impact of Compulsory Competitive Tendering on Refuse Collection Services Szymanski, Stefan , 1996 Fiscal Studies, 17(3), pp.1-19 In a follow-up to Szymanski and Wilkins (1993), which found that contracting yields significant cost savings which diminish during contract lifespan, this report finds further evidence of diminishing cost-savings over time in 365 municipalities between 1983 and 1994. UK
Compulsory Competitive Tendering for Public Services in the UK: The Case of Refuse Collection Bello, Hakeem and Szymanski, Stefan , 1996 Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, 23(5) & (6), pp.881-903 This is the last in a series of updates on the changes in cost and service characteristics following CCT. Costs fall by an average of 22% between the last full year prior to tender and the first full year after tender. Where tender was awarded in-house, CCT results in a significantly lower cost reduction - DSO contracts prove on average 10% more expensive than private firms. UK
The Economics of Compulsory Competitive Tendering: Issues, Evidence and the Case of Municipal Refuse Collection Chaundy, David and Uttley, Matthew , 1993 Public Policy and Administration, 8(2), pp.25-41 This is an article based on exclusive, albeit limited, survey data evaluating the economic performance of CCT within an evolving and politically divided framework. It reports average savings of 22% (29% in real terms) in the switch from municipal provision to CCT for those 14 authorities to return cost comparable data. Tendering costs of 3.6% representing an 18.4% (25.4%) saving overall in nominal terms. Competition rather than ownership was the primary variable affecting performance. UK
Cheap Rubbish? Competitive Tendering and Contracting Out in Refuse Collection Szymanski, Stefan & Wilkins, Sean , 1993 Fiscal Studies, 14(3), pp.109-130 This report supplements Domberger, Meadowcroft and Thompson (1986), which examined CIPFA data on refuse collection 1984-86, with the same surveys in subsequent years (1986-1988). They find that competitive tendering and contracting out reduce costs by 20%, in line with DMT's findings. UK
Competition and Efficiency in Refuse Collection: A Critical Comment Ganley, Joe and Grahl, John , 1988 Fiscal Studies, 9(1), pp.80-85 This article is a critical appraisal of Domberger, Meadowcroft and Thompson (1986). Cost reductions identified by Domberger et al are said to be not so large as indicated because a handful of 'superstar' districts with outsized savings skewed the data; where there are reductions these can be traced to 'losers' among the workforce and are devalued by the potential for loss-leading and service quality reductions. For a robust defence of these criticisms, see Domberger, Meadowcroft and Thompson (1988). UK
Competitive Tendering and Refuse Collection: Identifying the Sources of Efficiency Gains
Cubbin, John; Domberger, Simon and Meadowcroft, Shirley, 1987
Fiscal Studies, 8(3), pp.49-58
Competitive Tendering and Efficiency: The Case of Refuse Collection Domberger, S.; Meadowcroft, S.A. and Thompson, D.J. , 1986 Fiscal Studies, 7(4), pp.69-87 This landmark paper examines 305 municipalities in England and Wales, and finds that in those areas where competition had been introduced, services were provided around 22% cheaper than in those districts where uncontested municipal provision endured. Additionally, DMT found that there was no significant difference in service costs between public and private provision where competition existed. In other words, while public monopolies were found to be costly in the absence of competition, those public bodies incentivised to reduce costs by the introduction of competition were found to be no less efficient than their private competitors. UK
The Canadian Experience with Privatising Residential Solid Waste Collection Services McDavid, James C., 1985 Public Administration Review, pp.602-608 This article compares the costs of provision under public monopoly and contracting-out across 126 municipalities. There is also a two-region case study of collection comparing service production in Richmond and West Vancouver. Public provision is found to be significantly more expensive, with municipal workers less productive and their equipment less efficient than their private sector counterparts. In both Richmond and West Vancouver, service costs fell while quality either held constant or even improved. Overall, unit cost savings are found to be larger than comparable studies in the United States (Savas, 1981). The role of competition, rather than the public-private dichotomy, is said to be fundamental. Canada
Securing Further Improvements in Refuse Collection
Audit Commission, 1984
The Stationery Office
This is a comprehensive audit of 400 districts in England and Wales to identify service collection costs following the introduction of CCT and to explore potential for further value-for-money improvements. After six years of productivity increases amounting to 25%, there were still significant savings (>5%) to be made in many districts. Private sector involvement is deemed unnecessary "provided that the DLO is well managed and the workforce suitably motivated". The explicitly cost-centric approach fails to address the social and economic costs of exclusively pursuing the lowest cost route, and scant consideration is given to impact on service quality.
Efficient Refuse Collection
Gears, Mitch , 1984
Contract Services, pp.13-16, 22
The Provision of Municipal Sanitation Services by Private Firms: An Empirical Analysis of the Efficiency of Alternative Market Structures and Regulatory Arrangements Edwards, F. and Stevens, B. J. , 1978 The Journal of Industrial Economics, 27(2), pp.133-147 This article provides empirical analysis of the alternative market structures and regulatory regimes (six schemes in total) used around refuse collection services in 77 US cities in 1975. Contract arrangement is reported as the most efficient form of collection: prices in non-contract cities are found to be 41% higher than in contract cities. As with other US studies around this time, preoccupation is with total costs and public/private distinction, rather than understanding sources of savings and future service delivery. USA
Public versus Private Production Efficiency in Switzerland: A Theoretical and Empirical Comparison Pommerehne, Werner W. & Frey, Bruno S. , 1977 Ostrom, Vincent and Pennell Bish, Frances (eds), Sage Publications This paper compares the efficiency of refuse collection by municipal (publicly owned) organisations and private firms in Switzerland. A cost function for 103 Swiss cities, roughly equally split between public and private partnership, is estimated and private production shown to be more efficient than public production. This paper makes a second valuable contribution in specifying that the role of government does not end with the agreement on private production's superiority: public bodies must monitor and moderate competition to ensure that contract design is adequate to yield the theoretical benefits on offer. Switzerland
Policy Analysis for Local Government: Public vs Private Refuse Collection Savas, E.S., 1977 Policy Analysis, 3(1), pp.49-74 This paper discusses the comparative efficiency of public and private organisations in residential waste collection. Data are drawn from a survey of 1,377 metropolitan communities with populations between 2,500 and 750,000 population. Respondents identified the cost of their refuse collection service in 1975. Costs are found to be significantly lower for populations over 50,000 and a series of issues which would since have fallen under competitive neutrality are discussed. The author concludes with a series of firm policy recommendations both for this sector and other services typically provided by government. USA
An Empirical Study of Competition in Municipal Service Delivery
Savas, E.S. , 1977
Public Administration Review, pp.717-724