ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes how the costs of providing waste removal service vary systematically with the identity of the collector, the degree of competition, and the size of the market served. The impact of market structure and scale on refuse collection costs is considered from a productive efficiency rather than an allocative efficiency viewpoint. The relative ability of various market structures to respond to consumer demands for different levels of waste removal service is not considered in evaluating the relative costs of waste collection across market structures. Market structure and scale are considered in relation to total cost to households served. Total cost to households served equals the costs of collection where the structure is public monopoly—the sum of wages and salaries, fringe benefits, operating expenses, overhead costs, and depreciation of equipment—and revenues received by the collector where the structure is private monopoly or competitive.
