Organizing waste reduction in the Dutch waste sector

Many organizations in the Netherlands are concerned with the collection, treatment and disposal of waste (either by tipping or incineration). They make up what is called the refuse market, and they all have their own business interests. What they have in common is that their internal objectives are not necessarily concerned with limiting the size or altering the composition of refuse streams. On the contrary, the organizations have an interest in the destination of waste streams. Besides the market-oriented organization, the waste sector also comprises various tiers of government, policy support groups and pressure and lobby organizations. All these organizations have their own different sets of interests. In other words, the refuse sector in the Netherlands is complex. The research project on 'Organizing Waste Reduction in the Dutch Waste Sector' focuses on the structure of the sector: the organizations, the relations between them, and organizational factors such as tariff systems, ownership relations and the market situation. An important question, which the research seeks to answer, is whether a modification in the structure of the sector can lead to the encouragement of reduction in the quantity of waste