Innovation and Technical Change in the European Municipal Waste Industry

Municipal Waste (hereafter MW) sector is commonly considered an industry dominated by the collection segment and by labour intensive activity, with almost no room for innovation apart from waste-to-energy incinerators. In this work we intend to argue this perception, demonstrating that even when focused on labour intensive activities such as selection and recycling, MW sector is interested by innovation and technical change. But we claim that standard innovation theory developed by Neoclassical economics miss to represent a useful theoretical framework, and that Complexity Theory allows to better interpret innovation in this field.