Household preferences for improved municipal solid waste management services in Penang and Terengganu

Abstract

It is important to acknowledge the interdependent relationships between the economic and the environment system in achieving sustainable development. The environmental system provides typically four classes of services to the economic system: the natural capital for production, amenity services, basic life support services, and waste sink services. High investment in technology, programmes, projects, or any measures related to the recycling concept in the circular flow of production and consumption relationships should be given more concentration in the future waste management plan and policies. This is because the mass of waste generated from the production and consumption relationships is continually increasing as the population grows, leading to a more polluted environmental system. This study examined the households’ perspectives on the potential improved municipal solid waste management system in their residential area. Two study sites were compared to their households’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the waste management system. By using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) approach, the study concluded that the economic value of the improved municipal solid waste management services in the study sites ranged from MYR 15.42 to MYR 29.67 per month, which on aggregate, ranged from MYR 13.3 million to MYR 117.7 million per year. These economic values indirectly indicated the amount the population preferred to pay as the cost to reduce the impacts of improper management of municipal solid waste.