Estimation of willingness-to-pay for the MSW disposal system by choice experiment approach: A case study of Taiwan

In Taiwan, municipal solid waste (MSW) is separated into general, recyclable, and food waste categories. General waste must be packaged into pre-paid trash bags before final disposal. Recyclable items and food waste are collected separately to reduce the costs of using pre-paid trash bags. This study applied a choice experiment approach to evaluate marginal willingness-to-pay (WTP) in different MSW disposal system scenarios. Variables include cleanliness, location for purchasing pre-paid trash bags, frequency of waste collection, and distance to waste disposal. The results indicate that cleanliness, location, and distance influence public behavior, acceptance, and participation. Higher collection frequency decreases public acceptance. Some of the socio-economic variables of the respondents, including age, education, and marriage status, affect MSW management alternatives. The marginal WTP of the scenarios in this study ranged from US$0.04-0.07 per trash bag. Online purchasing of pre-paid trash bags is more cost-effective and should be encouraged. The results of this study provide useful information for the development of policies related to waste management systems.