Non-deposit system option for waste management on small islands

Abstract

This paper analyses waste management on small islands (on a global scale these are micro-islands). In the context of the paper, small islands are islands that have an area less than 50 km(2) The study presents an overview of the problems connected with waste transport from islands to the mainland. Waste generation on islands is very much related to tourists. If tourists do not handle waste properly, it will cause problems. Four small Estonian islands in the range of 3-19 km(2) are studied in detail. For these and other small islands, the main problem is the waste produced by tourists, or related to tourists and waste transport to the mainland. Currently, the local municipality has to arrange and finance waste transport. In fact, and based on the polluter-pays principle, the tourists should bear the cost of waste management. There are different tax options available in order to collect the money from tourists - waste tax, harbour tax, tourist tax, donations, environmental tax and others. The study results revealed that the best possible solution for Estonian islands may be a non-deposit system - including an additional charge on ferry ticket prices. The extra money should cover the costs of waste management and waste shipping. The tourists arriving in their own boats should pay a harbour tax, which includes a waste tax to compensate for the cost of waste management.

Overview of ecofiscal powers for municipalities: Implementation of new measures in Québec

“…Waste or waste collection pricing (Chiasson, 2018; Mueller, 2013; Rivas Suarez, 2014; Vilms & Voronova, 2016), drinking water pricing (Nakayama et al, 2019; Valles‐Gimenez & Zarate‐Marco, 2013), sewage discharge or stormwater management pricing (Moral Pajares et al, 2019), congestion pricing (Altshuler, 2010; Le Boennec, 2014) and vehicular pollution (Fabricio et al, 2017; Lai et al, 2000) have also been analyzed in depth in the international scholarly literature on municipal ecotaxation. In addition, there have been studies on the full range of mechanisms for land value capture (Chapman & Gorina, 2012; Ermasova & George, 2017; Paull, 2015; Stewart, 2016), for revitalization or decontamination purposes (Quandt, 2013; Schwartz, 2016; Spahlinger & Wayne, 2019; Weber, 2010) and for investment in active transportation infrastructure (Miller & Coutts, 2018), mass transportation infrastructure (Mathur, 2017; McIntosh et al, 2015) or parks and recreation areas (Burton & Hicks, 2007; Uhlir, 2005).…”

Solid Waste Management Key Indicator Development for Hotels: A Tunisian Case Study Analysis

“…As a first step, and to further identify more drivers, a review of 50 relevant papers, reports, and doctoral theses on SWM in tourism was undertaken [27][28][29][30]32,[34][35][36][37][38][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54]. The literature review acted as a base to learn from other researchers, best practices, and international studies to better prepare all the possible items contained in the paper and questionnaires (see the questionnaires directed to hotels and municipalities in the Supplementary Materials).…”

Evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions from waste management approaches in the islands

“…More than 740 million people live on these islands (Leal Filho et al, 2013). Population growth and increased tourism have led to increased waste generation (Sealey and Smith, 2014;Vilms and Voronova, 2016). However, islands often have limited capacities to deal with the growing amount of waste (Sealey and Smith, 2014).…”