Efficiency of separate waste collection under regional policies: spatial stochastic frontier evidence from Italy

Separate waste collection (SWC) production plays a key role in waste management,necessitating active participation from both governments and households. This studyaims to analyse the impact of regional environmental policies (direct effects) andneighbourhood influences (indirect effects) on households’ efficiency in SWCproduction. To achieve this, the study defines a household-level SWC productionfunction that integrates regional environmental policies to assess their effects onhousehold efficiency. The spatial stochastic frontier analysis is then applied toquarterly data from 2002Q1 to 2020Q1, covering Italian regions and sourced fromofficial datasets (Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) and the Italian Institutefor Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA)), using appropriate strategies toaddress potential endogeneity. The results reveal that household composition affectshow time is allocated to SWC activities and highlight the positive impact of regionalenvironmental policies on household efficiency.