The Dynamics of Garbage Collection: A Case Study of Privatization

This paper outlines a consulting assigimient with a local government authority in New Zealand. Participants in a Systems Thinking seminar identified the privatization of a publicly funded service as an appropriate problem for analysis. They constructed a causal loop diagram of the situation. This diagram was later refined by the consultant and an iThink model constructed. From this it was possible to examine the reasons for the failure of the Council to reach a number of its policy objectives. An analysis of other possible scenarios suggests that the policy of privatisation was seriously flawed.