Investigating the Correlation of Purchase Power Parity (PPP) with the Adopted Waste Management Method in EU28

Abstract

The amount of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated mostly in large urban centers is a major problem. For a modern society, the proper management and treatment of MSW is imperative and necessary. However, each community has organized and installed different waste treatment methods based on environmental, social and economic criteria. In this paper, a comparative analysis of waste treatment methods that countries in EU28 have adopted based on economic factors for a time period of 2008–2017, is presented. Power Purchase Parity (PPP), production of MSW and population growth have been considered as to identify how these factors may influence or determine the selected waste management methods. From the results obtained, what should be highlighted is the decrease of MSW in the majority of countries in EU28, regardless of population growth. PPP seems to have no correlation with more ecofriendly waste treatment methods such as recycling and composting, while countries that started to invest in waste-to-energy in the initial years of the examined period (2008–2017), increased their confidence in this technology up until the present day, regardless of PPP formulation.