Tools for a circular economy: Assessing waste taxation in a CGE multi-pollutant framework

Highlights

• Circular economy strategies can be fostered with the use of waste taxation.

• We assess the economic and environmental effects of landfill and incineration taxes.

• An energy-environment-economy dynamic CGE model for Spain is developed.

• The model provides high detail, with 19 different waste treatment industries.

• We find a low economic impact and a reduction of all the environmental impacts.

Abstract

Economic theory states that incineration and landfill taxation can effectively diminish the environmental impacts of pollution and resource use by reducing their associated pollutants while stimulating the reuse and recycling of materials, and therefore, fostering a circular economy. The aim of this research is to assess the economic and environmental effects of these taxes in Spain in different scenarios with a detailed dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, as there are no studies analyzing this in detail. We focus on the economic impact on GDP and sectorial production and the environmental impact on different categories: global warming potential, marine eutrophication potential, photochemical ozone formation potential, particulate matter, human toxicity (cancer and noncancer), ecotoxicity, and depletion of fossil resources. We find in all scenarios that these taxes have a limited economic impact while reducing all of the environmental impact categories analyzed. The study reinforces the theory that policy makers need to impose taxes on landfill and incineration to reinforce the circularity of the economy and reduce environmental burdens, but also demonstrates that they can improve their design without additional costs.