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Scientific Article details

Title Institutional Quality, Trust in Institutions, and Waste Recycling Performance in the EU27
ID_Doc 20251
Authors Pronti, A; Zoboli, R
Title Institutional Quality, Trust in Institutions, and Waste Recycling Performance in the EU27
Year 2024
Published Sustainability, 16, 2
DOI 10.3390/su16020892
Abstract This paper addresses the role of institutional quality and trust in institutions for the performance in waste recycling of the EU27 countries. While survey-based works have highlighted the role of these factors for waste recycling attitudes and performance at the micro level, econometric analyses of recycling in Europe at country and regional levels have mostly looked into the role of waste policies, and not the role of institutional factors, in driving progresses in waste recycling. This paper tries to fill this gap through a panel econometrics analysis of recycling rates of municipal solid waste at the national level for the EU27 countries for the period 2005-2020. The proxies for institutional quality and trust in institutions, as the variables of interest, are introduced into a model that includes controls on a set of socio-economic variables, and on a set of EU waste policy variables, in particular the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) and its revision, and the first Circular Economy Action Plan of 2015 (CEAP 2015). Our results support the hypothesis that the quality of institutions can influence waste recycling performance. Moreover, our results provide evidence on the negative role of institutional trust on recycling rate at country level. Similarly, we find that the EU WFD and CEAP 2015 have been significant in driving recycling performances; the latter finding, however, is a necessary condition in appropriate institutional and socio-economic environments at the national level.
Author Keywords waste recycling; quality of institutions; trust in institutions; circular economy action plan
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED); Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)
EID WOS:001151235700001
WoS Category Green & Sustainable Science & Technology; Environmental Sciences; Environmental Studies
Research Area Science & Technology - Other Topics; Environmental Sciences & Ecology
PDF https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/892/pdf?version=1705737220
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