The efficiency of refuse collection services in Spanish municipalities: do non-controllable variables matter?

The aim of this article is to analyse the technical efficiency and cost-efficiency of the refuse collection services in 73 municipalities located in Catalonia, Spain. The analysis has been carried out using a modification of the DEA model in three stages developed by Fried and Lovell (1996), that allows to take into account the influence of those factors that the producer cannot control (non-controllable variables). The results seem to back the hypothesis that non-controllable variables do not affect very much the ease of provision of the service, with the exception of few municipalities.