Estimating Households’ Willingness-to-Pay for an Improved Solid Waste Management in Butuan City, Philippines

Abstract

The concept of community participation has been a strategy of different organizations in implementing a program. A waste analysis and characterization study (WACS) was conducted in Butuan City, Philippines, before the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Along with WACS is the determination of the household waste generators' willingness-to-pay (WTP) amount for improved management of solid waste in the City using the dichotomous choice contingent valuation method (DC-CVM). The study involved 427 randomly selected households who were asked how much they would pay based on the pre-identified bid prices. Respondents were iteratively asked for the WTP amount until the highest possible amount was elicited. The mean amount of WTP was estimated using the logistic regression model. The model considered the household’s socio-economic profile, solid waste generation, management practices, and perception as predictors of the WTP amount. As a result, households are willing to pay PhP19.27 every month. The model also shows that bid amount WTP, practice on segregation, awareness of collection schedule, respondent’s age, and the household’s total monthly income are significant factors affecting the willingness to pay. With the results on the suggested amount, it hopes to help the LGU Butuan Legislators and solid waste management task force formulate actions and strategies to ease the mounting problem of solid waste in the city.