Showing papers on "Extended producer responsibility published in 1991"

An Economic Model for the Successful Recycling of Waste Materials

Abstract: For a successful substitution of classical building materials by alternative or waste materials an insight in the economic structure of the respective markets is necessary. Alternative materials are generally waste or by-products of economically viable production processes. The supply of these materials is in a fixed relation to the primary product and independent of the demand. If there is no positive demand for the waste materials, the producer will be forced to store the products on scarce land. Thus the waste material gets a negative price which affects the cost of the primary product. If the waste material can be marketed as an alternative building material, the difference between the negative price of the waste material and the market price of the equivalent classical material is available to cover extra processing costs. This means that the recycling of waste materials can be stimulated by increasing the cost of storage and by research into possible applications of (processed) waste materials in civil structures. In the paper two case studies of the economic reuse of waste materials will be presented. Possible gouvernment measures to stimulate alternative materials are analysed.