Domestic waste costs in Ireland
A few months ago, myself and a colleague from Dublin City University, Orla Feeney, published a paper in Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal titled “Domestic waste policy in Ireland – economization and the role of accounting” – see this link.
The paper details how domestic waste collection in Ireland evolved over time from a free (to the end consumer) merit good, to a pay by weight system run by private enterprises. We used the notion of economization to frame the story of how accounting concepts played a role in this journey. The paper abstract is below.
In the paper, we noted “to say the sector became “financialized” would be an over claim as all firms involved were/are privately owned and not subject to financial market forces”. Well, this is perhaps no longer the case, as the Irish Times of January 15th reports one of the waste firms is up for graps with a valuation of €1bn – see here. Great to see a link from the paper to actual events.
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Paper abstract:
Purpose
This paper examines how accounting concepts were utilised in domestic waste collection services in Ireland over the past two decades or so. In comparison to other former “free” services in the Irish context, the prevalence of accounting concepts has been greater and delivered a more successful outcome.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the concepts of calculation, the “economic” and economization, events around domestic waste policy in Ireland are examined, and the increasing prevalence of concepts such as price, cost and profitability in these processes are a focal point. Publicly available documents such as government policy documents, parliamentary records and media reports are utilised to draw out these concepts. The period of analysis is 1996–2018.
Findings
The findings reveal the role of accounting concepts in the economization of domestic waste policy in Ireland. The result of the economization process was a fully privatised, profit-oriented, price-monitored system.
Research limitations/implications
This research provides a broad view of accounting concepts in the management of domestic waste. It highlights how waste policy in Ireland travelled through instances of being political and economic over time. The research is limited by its use of secondary data.
Originality/value
This study highlights how accounting concepts were used in varying ways to bring about a satisfactory solution to domestic waste disposal in Ireland, namely the privatisation of waste services.
Where is the “value” in value-added tax?
As an accountant, I tend to automatically equate value to economic value. When teaching management accounting of course, I know there is more than just financial/economic value. Such “other” values are probably much more important to us and our planet – time is precious as the photo of this post captures.
I was intrigued recently to read how a “tampon tax” was abolished in the UK from January 1st 2021. The tax, value-added tax (VAT) of 5%, no longer applies to sanitary products such as tampons. As I read around the topic (and I know the issue of free sanitary products is a hot topic), I found that Ireland never charged VAT on such products. From my days of studying taxation, I recall that a basic principle of VAT in Ireland was that basic needs (e.g. bread, medicines) were outside VAT scope, but “luxury items” were subject to VAT (e.g. sweet cakes – in contrast to plain white bread).
The above made me think of what value should we be considering in VAT and is there value other than economic value. Allowing women to have cheaper or tax free sanitary products is something which I think adds value to society. Or take another example, back in 2012 a baker in Saxony, Germany was held liable to pay VAT on unsold bread donated to homeless people (I think this debate may still be rumbling in Germany). This baker was certainly adding value to society by helping others less fortunate, and again it is questionable should such an activity be taxed.
I am sure there are more examples like these two. Of course, governments around the world are introducing taxes to help protect our environment etc, but I do wonder should legislators consider the existing and well embedded taxes too. Some simple changes as to what constitutes “value” might be worthwhile to improve society.
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