[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/jrp/jrpwrp/2012-066.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Flexible Waste Management under Uncertainty

Author

Listed:
  • Luca Di Corato

    (Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Natalia Montinari

    (Strategic Interaction Group, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena)

Abstract
In this paper, we use stochastic dynamic programming to model the choice of a municipality which has to design an optimal waste management program under uncertainty about the price of recyclables in the secondary market. The municipality can, by undertaking an irreversible investment, adopt a flexible program which integrates the existing landfill strategy with recycling, keeping the option to switch back to landfilling, if profitable. We determine the optimal share of waste to be recycled and the optimal timing for the investment in such a flexible program. We find that adopting a flexible program rather than a non-flexible one, the municipality: i) invests in recycling capacity under circumstances where it would not do so otherwise; ii) invests earlier, and iii) benefits from a higher expected net present value.

Suggested Citation

  • Luca Di Corato & Natalia Montinari, 2012. "Flexible Waste Management under Uncertainty," Jena Economics Research Papers 2012-066, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    • Handle: RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2012-066
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://oweb.b67.uni-jena.de/Papers/jerp2012/wp_2012_066.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Di Corato, Luca & Moretto, Michele, 2011. "Investing in biogas: Timing, technological choice and the value of flexibility from input mix," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1186-1193.
    2. Thomas C. Kinnaman, 2006. "Policy Watch: Examining the Justification for Residential Recycling," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 219-232, Fall.
    3. Thomas C. Kinnaman & Don Fullerton, 2002. "Garbage and Recycling with Endogenous Local Policy," Chapters, in: Don Fullerton & Thomas C. Kinnaman (ed.), The Economics of Household Garbage and Recycling Behavior, chapter 6, pages 120-143, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Jannett Highfill & Michael McAsey, 2001. "Landfilling Versus ``Backstop'' Recycling When Income Is Growing," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 19(1), pages 37-52, May.
    5. Mason, Charles F., 2001. "Nonrenewable Resources with Switching Costs," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 65-81, July.
    6. Dixit, Avinash K, 1989. "Entry and Exit Decisions under Uncertainty," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(3), pages 620-638, June.
    7. Highfill, Jannett & McAsey, Michael, 1997. "Municipal Waste Management: Recycling and Landfill Space Constraints," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 118-136, January.
    8. He, Hua & Pindyck, Robert S., 1992. "Investments in flexible production capacity," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 16(3-4), pages 575-599.
    9. Chang, Ni-Bin & Wang, S.F., 1997. "A fuzzy goal programming approach for the optimal planning of metropolitan solid waste management systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 303-321, June.
    10. Michele Moretto & Gianpaolo Rossini, 2012. "Flexible Outsourcing[1]," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33, pages 47-59, January.
    11. Avinash K. Dixit & Robert S. Pindyck, 1994. "Investment under Uncertainty," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 5474.
    12. Li, Shanling & Wang, Letian, 2010. "Outsourcing and capacity planning in an uncertain global environment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(1), pages 131-141, November.
    13. Nagurney, Anna & Toyasaki, Fuminori, 2005. "Reverse supply chain management and electronic waste recycling: a multitiered network equilibrium framework for e-cycling," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 1-28, January.
    14. Benaroch, Michel & Webster, Scott & Kazaz, Burak, 2012. "Impact of sourcing flexibility on the outsourcing of services under demand uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 219(2), pages 272-283.
    15. Anni Huhtala, 1997. "A Post-Consumer Waste Management Model for Determining Optimal Levels of Recycling and Landfilling," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 10(3), pages 301-314, October.
    16. Fontes, Dalila B.M.M., 2008. "Fixed versus flexible production systems: A real options analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 188(1), pages 169-184, July.
    17. Triantis, Alexander J & Hodder, James E, 1990. "Valuing Flexibility as a Complex Option," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 549-565, June.
    18. Ready Mark J. & Ready Richard C., 1995. "Optimal Pricing of Depletable, Replaceable Resources: The Case of Landfill Tipping Fees," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 307-323, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tsekrekos, Andrianos E. & Yannacopoulos, Athanasios N., 2016. "Optimal switching decisions under stochastic volatility with fast mean reversion," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 251(1), pages 148-157.
    2. Gambella, Claudio & Maggioni, Francesca & Vigo, Daniele, 2019. "A stochastic programming model for a tactical solid waste management problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 273(2), pages 684-694.
    3. Carlo Reggiani & Francesco Silvestri, 2015. "Municipal Waste Collection: Market Competition and the EU Policy," Working Papers 2015.90, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    4. Cui, Hailong & Sošić, Greys, 2019. "Recycling common materials: Effectiveness, optimal decisions, and coordination mechanisms," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 274(3), pages 1055-1068.
    5. Carlo Reggiani & Francesco Silvestri, 2018. "Municipal Solid Waste, Market Competition and the EU Policy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 71(2), pages 457-474, October.
    6. Lambertini, Luca, 2021. "Regulating the tragedy of commons: Nonlinear feedback solutions of a differential game with a dual interpretation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    7. Trigeorgis, Lenos & Tsekrekos, Andrianos E., 2018. "Real Options in Operations Research: A Review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(1), pages 1-24.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Di Corato, Luca & Moretto, Michele, 2011. "Investing in biogas: Timing, technological choice and the value of flexibility from input mix," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1186-1193.
    2. Kort, Peter M. & Murto, Pauli & Pawlina, Grzegorz, 2010. "Uncertainty and stepwise investment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 202(1), pages 196-203, April.
    3. Jannett Highfill & Michael Mcasey, 2004. "Gains and losses from transfers of solid waste," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 10(2), pages 123-132, May.
    4. Gao, Yongling & Driouchi, Tarik, 2018. "Accounting for ambiguity and trust in partial outsourcing: A behavioral real options perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 93-104.
    5. Di Corato, Luca & Moretto, Michele & Rossini, Gianpaolo, 2017. "Financing flexibility: The case of outsourcing," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 35-65.
    6. Chen, M.C. & Ruijs, A. & Wesseler, J., 2005. "Solid waste management on small islands: the case of Green Island, Taiwan," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 31-47.
    7. Akamatsu, Takashi & Nagae, Takeshi, 2011. "A network of options: Evaluating complex interdependent decisions under uncertainty," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 714-729, May.
    8. Tsekrekos, Andrianos E. & Yannacopoulos, Athanasios N., 2016. "Optimal switching decisions under stochastic volatility with fast mean reversion," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 251(1), pages 148-157.
    9. Insley, Margaret, 2017. "Resource extraction with a carbon tax and regime switching prices: Exercising your options," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 1-16.
    10. Xingang Wen & Peter M. Kort & Dolf Talman, 2017. "Volume flexibility and capacity investment: a real options approach," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(12), pages 1633-1646, December.
    11. Silvia Bertarelli & Chiara Lodi & Stefania Ragni, 2022. "An optimal strategy to control mining and recycling of non-renewable resources," Working Papers 2202, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2022.
    12. M. Moretto & G. Rossini, 2015. "Vertical flexibility, outsourcing and the financial choices of the firm," Working Papers wp1009, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    13. Yu‐Fu Chen & Michael Funke, 2010. "Booms, Recessions And Financial Turmoil: A Fresh Look At Investment Decisions Under Cyclical Uncertainty," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 57(3), pages 290-317, July.
    14. Steven R. Grenadier, 2003. "An Equilibrium Analysis of Real Estate," NBER Working Papers 9475, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Bertolini, Marina & D’Alpaos, Chiara & Moretto, Michele, 2016. "Investing in Photovoltaics: Timing, Plant Sizing and Smart Grids Flexibility," MITP: Mitigation, Innovation and Transformation Pathways 244540, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    16. Margaret Insley, 2013. "On the timing of non-renewable resource extraction with regime switching prices: an optimal stochastic control approach," Working Papers 1302, University of Waterloo, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2013.
    17. Grenadier, Steven R. & Wang, Neng, 2005. "Investment timing, agency, and information," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 493-533, March.
    18. Gamba, Andrea & Tesser, Matteo, 2009. "Structural estimation of real options models," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 798-816, April.
    19. Matthew Gunter, 2007. "Do Economists Reach a Conclusion on Household and Municipal Recycling?," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 4(1), pages 83-111, January.
    20. Lauren Chenarides & Mark Manfredo & Timothy J. Richards, 2021. "COVID‐19 and Food Supply Chains," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 270-279, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Real Options; Flexibility; Municipal Waste; Recycling;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2012-066. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Markus Pasche (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.jenecon.de .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.