A PANEL DATA APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING DRIVERS OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE RECYCLING IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Data was used to explore the determinants of municipal waste recycling rates for 20 EU countries across nine-year period (2012 – 2020). It merged variables from public opinion, institutional, socio-demographic and economic domains which were downloaded from public sources like Eurostat, Eurobarometer (GESIS), World Bank, OECD and ParlGov. Research findings, found through fixed-effects model with Driscoll-Kraay robust errors, imply that higher education, GDP and older population structure, as well as higher waste and environmental concerns lead to higher recycling. On the contrary, higher urbanization and government spending on waste management has an opposite effect on MSW recycling rate.