Assessing Waste Generation Efficiency in EU Regions towards Sustainable Environmental Policies

This paper employs data envelopment analysis (DEA) to consider waste generation at a regional level in the European Union (EU). By doing so both good and bad outputs are taken into account and different frameworks are designed. Five parameters (waste generation, employment rate, capital formation, GDP and population density) are used for 172 EU regions and for the years 2009, 2011 and 2013. In this way four frameworks have been designed, each with different inputs and outputs. The results show the most efficient EU regions according to each framework, but it should be noted that results from different frameworks should not be compared with each other. Overall results suggest that the highest performers are regions in Belgium, Italy, Portugal and the UK. Finally, the efficiency results from DEA were reviewed against the treatment options employed in the relevant regions to assess overall sustainability of the regions examined. Findings show that, although a country might be efficient according to DEA and by taking various factors into consideration, this does not necessarily mean that regions within a country use sustainable waste treatment options, as it is essential to account for trade and shipment of waste between regions and countries as well. These findings may prove valuable for the planning of environmental policies, especially on an EU regional level. Copyright (C) 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment