The roles of government, the private sector, and residents in solid waste management : lessons from a case study in Greater Hobart local government areas, Tasmania

This thesis examines the various means of improving local government solid waste management services. Solid waste management is now a major environmental policy challenge throughout the world and one in which the role of local government is both interesting and important. Factors at many levels conspire to expand and add new responsibilities at this level. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, for example, placed a heavy emphasis on the role of local political structures and in Australia local authorities are being increasingly asked to shoulder a greater responsibility in environmental management. General conditions and issues of local government involvement in environmental management and solid waste management are discussed, followed by particular reference to the State of Tasmania, in Australia. A brief description of municipal solid waste services in the author's own country, Thailand, is also given. A supplementary objective of the thesis is to investigate the degree to which strategies and methods employed in Tasmania have wider applicability, in particular to Thailand. With privatisation of public services now common part of policy in many parts of the world, the issue of privatisation of solid waste managment services is highly germane to this thesis. Factors and principles relevant to the privatisation of public services are therefore discussed. A case study of solid waste management in the Greater Hobart Area, in southern Tasmania, takes a multi-sectoral approach, focussing on the State Government as the highest responsible authority in the region, local government as the immediate regulator and provider of services, the private sector as a (contract) provider in some parts of the region, and local residents as both producers of waste and consumers of solid waste services. Study methods used include structured interviews with State and local government officials (in five local government areas), and two different questionnaires, sent to private companies and five hundred households in the region respectively. Major findings draw attention to the improvements which can be achieved through waste minimisation programs when all tiers of government exercise their responsibilities and cooperate with each other. The public in the Greater Hobart Area have also responded positively. The thesis finds that private contractors can be more cost effective without any apparent loss of service quality, but notes that each situation where the private sector could be involved needs individual appraisal. Lessons from the Tasmanian experience are potentially applicable elsewhere, particularly with regard to a cooperative model for seeking improvement, but are also relevant to policy makers and managers in Tasmania itself.