2008 Volume 31 Issue 2 Pages 54-63
This paper discusses the amount of regional social capital (SC) that has been used in municipal solid waste management (MSWM) from the view point of efficiency. Recently, local governments are facing financial difficulties; therefore, they need to use regional capital. Regional SC consists of the capabilities that establish trust, norms, and relevant networks in the region. Every city has regional SC; however, it is unclear whether this regional SC has been used efficiently in MSWM. In this paper, the efficiency in the utilization of regional SC for MSWM is analyzed using data envelopment analysis (DEA). Thirteen ordinance-designated cities in Japan are chosen as case study cities. Finally, the following results are obtained: regional SC is not necessarily used as the main management capacity; instead, technology has served as the main management capacity. Moreover, if the quantity of regional SC is rich, the contribution of regional SC for MSWM does not always increase. However, the contribution of regional SC has increased after the 3R policies were adopted in 2000.
