An optimal solid waste collection fee based on area characteristics using hedonic pricing approach

Abstract

To extract an optimal willingness to pay for a waste collection service from an expected house price was the goal of this paper. The data were collected from households in Songkhla and Hatyai cities representing cultural and commercial characteristic areas, respectively. They were analysed by hedonic pricing method (HPM) in a form of Box-Cox model framework based on area characteristics. The findings indicated that the marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for a waste collection service is about 45 baht/month for Songkhla and is about 55 baht/month for Hatyai. Moreover, an inverse demand for the service showed that people living in commercial area would tend to pay less than those in the cultural area even though they gain more benefits from a higher house price in the commercial area. This could reflect an important role of area characteristics on determining willingness to pay of residents.