II Congreso español de gestión integral de deyecciones ganaderas : Barcelona, 9-10 de junio 2010. International workshop on anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse waste : Barcelona, 11 junio 2010

La fuerte demanda de alimentos que ha tenido lugar a nivel mundial en los últimos años, ha provocadoun cambio en los sistemas de producción agraria y para el caso de la ganadera se ha pasado de lastípicas explotaciones extensivas ligadas al terreno a las granjas intensivas, en donde se ha incrementadola carga ganadera, bien aumentando el número de cabezas en pastoreo o mediante la construcción degranjas intensivas sin suelo

Intermunicipal cooperation and privatization of solid waste services among small municipalities in Spain

The aim of this paper is to analyze the effects of intermunicipal cooperation and privatization on the delivery costs of urban solid waste services. The results of our empirical analysis, which we conducted among a sample of very small municipalities, indicate that small towns that cooperate incur lower costs for their waste collection service. Cooperation also raises collection frequency and improves the quality of the service in small towns. By contrast, the form of production, whether it is public or private, does not result in systematic differences in costs. Interestingly, the degree of population dispersion has a significant positive relation with service costs. No evidence of scale economies is found because, it would seem, small municipalities exploit them by means of intermunicipal cooperation.