Definition of the Collection Centers
The
collection centers are key components of WEEE's management system. The
effectiveness of the CC system (the amount of WEEE collected per
inhabitant per CC) depends on several factors, among which we can mainly
indicate the distribution of the CCs in an area, the relative number of
inhabitants and the management of the single CC. In this section, we
adopt the transaction matrix methodology to analyze the dynamics of the
contribution of the CCs of the Italian provinces at the WEEE collection
process. In particular, we consider the number of CCs per 50,000
inhabitants for the Italian provinces in order to take into account the
dimension of the province's population. In this way, we intend to
analyze the role played by the appropriateness of the structure (in
terms of number of CCs per province and their distribution) of the
collecting system.
The model of Transaction matrix studied adopts
three states: Low (LPC), Medium (MPC) and High (LPC) Presence of CCs.
These three states correspond at three different levels of CCs per
50,000 inhabitants that have been calculated by means the standard
deviation (2.7) of the distribution of the CCs across the Italian
provinces. Table 8 summarizes the three states used in the analysis.
Table 8. Number of collection centers per 50,000 inhabitants.
| State |
WEEE CC |
| LPC |
0–2.7 |
| MPC |
2.7–5.4 |
| HPC |
≥5.4 |
Descriptive Results
The
presence of WEEE CCs on the Italian territory is at the same time
dynamic and inhomogeneous as can be seen in Figure 1. In fact, in the
nine years since the introduction of the WEEE management system, while
the number of provinces in the MPC (Figure 1b) and HPC (Figure 1c)
states increased (respectively +27% and +56%) and the percentage of
those in LPC (Figure 1a) diminished (−26%), the percentage of Southern
Italy provinces positioned in the LPC state increased from 40% to more
than 50%. The trends for the North and Central areas are completely
different. As for the MPC, while the percentage of CCs increased at a
national level (+27%) those of Southern Italy decreased 33%. At the same
time, the HPC state registered a relevant overall increase (+56%) in
the period that was almost entirely due to the increase of Central (from
1 to 4 provinces) and Southern Italy (from 1 to 6 provinces).
Nevertheless, at the end of the period, the share of the three areas
considered in HPC state was still uneven (North: 64%; Central: 14%;
South: 21%). This territorial distribution of the CCs seems to
correspond in some way to the uneven picture of the WEEE system
collecting performance in the three areas that we have previously
observed.
Figure 1. Distribution
of WEEE Collection Centers by state and area (2009–2017) (%). Note: we
can look the distribution of WEEE Collecting Centers in Italian area for
the period in the exam where (a) reports the percentage of provinces in
low state; (b) reports the percentage of provinces in medium state and
(c) reports the percentage of provinces in high state.
Transition Probability Matrix Results
In
this section, the results deriving from the transition matrix analysis
are presented. In particular, we aim to study the behavior of the
Italian provinces in setting up an appropriate infrastructural system to
support the WEEE management system. In general terms, a high
probability of permanence emerges in the same state in the period. In
fact, data shows (Table 9) that provinces in a steady state condition
are 75 (46, 14 and 15 in LWC, MWC and HWC states, respectively) which
account for 68% of the total. Only 25% have registered an improvement of
state. The higher steady state condition is related to HWC (83.3% of
probability to remain in this state) while, for LWC, it is almost 70%.
These figures highlight the probable presence of difficulties in
carrying out structural investments for the opening of new CCs.
Table 9. WEEE Collection Centers: transition probabilities matrix of Italian provinces, 2009–2017.
| 2009–2017 |
LWC |
MWC |
HWC |
Total (a) |
| LWC |
46 (69.7%) ** |
17 (25.8%) |
3 (4.5%) |
66 (60%) |
| MWC |
2 (7.7%) * |
14 (53.8%) |
10 (38.5%) |
26 (23.6%) |
| HWC |
1 (5.6%) * |
2 (11.1%) |
15 (83.3%) |
18 (16.4%) |
| Total (b) |
49 (44.5%) |
33 (30%) |
28 (25.5%) |
110 (100%) |
Note:
integer indicator the number of provinces that passed from i state to j
state, while % indicates the transition probability, which is measured
by the ratio between the number of new provinces that passed from i
state to j state and the total number of provinces in the i state. (a)
Provinces in a state in 2009, (b) Provinces in state in 2017. * Includes
a Sardinia province reorganized in 2017. ** Includes two Sardinia
provinces reorganized in 2017
