Economic rationalism or administrative rationalism? Curbside collection systems in Sweden and Japan.

Sweden and Japan are environmental leaders in their regions; however, Sweden has shown much better performance in the development of a circular economy. This paper suggests that different environmental discourses between the two countries help explain this gap. An actor-discourse analysis was conducted, taking the case of curbside collection systems. Results show that in Sweden, producers have physical and financial responsibility for collection and recycling while municipalities are responsible for planning and providing information. Economic incentives are well considered, and easy waste sorting at home is a shared norm, fostering systematic improvement of curbside collection systems and drastically increasing recycling rates. In Japan, in contrast, producers address recycling, municipalities do collection, and consumers cover sorting. The necessity of promoting consumer awareness of recycling is broadly accepted, but systematic thinking has not been introduced; as a result, primitive curbside collection systems remain mainstream in Japan, and it is not easy to sort waste at home. Thus, Sweden has favored economic rationalism while Japan administrative rationalism and, the former has been more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]