Organizational innovations of municipal Waste management in Finland and Norway

Abstract

This empirical study compares the public policies of municipal waste management in Finland and Norway by analyzing organizational innovations of municipal waste management services in order to identify contributing factors of the organizational evolution and evaluate associated stakeholder concerns or implications. Our findings demonstrate that municipal waste management services have been extensively corporatized and regionalized, because municipalities have been too small entities to modernize waste treatment methods and respond to ambitious recovery targets set by the European Union. However, the organizational innovations have caused criticism concerning problems with democratic control, transparency, and fair competition.