By diversion rate alone: The inconsistency and inequity of waste management evaluation in a single-indicator system

Local waste management is commonly evaluated according to performance indicators that have been shown to be weakly or even negatively correlated. If the metrics of waste management are not treated as a multi-indicator system, evaluations will reflect indicator selection rather than the actual sustainability of waste management. We discuss the drawbacks of single-indicator evaluations through the case of Italy, where recent national and regional legislation on waste taxation is largely based on municipal diversion rate. We show that the main assumption for making diversion rate the discriminant between good and bad environmental performances is untenable. Furthermore, we provide evidence that the use of a single parameter has a sizeable regressive effect in the distribution of the tax burden between municipalities.