Willingness to pay for higher construction waste landfill charge: A comparative study in Shenzhen and Qingdao, China

Abstract

High landfill charge presents an effective approach to divert construction waste from landfill. The stakeholders’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the disposal of construction waste in landfill provide the useful information to set a reasonable charge level. Considering the diversity in stakeholder groups and regional socioeconomic conditions, contingent valuation method (CVM) was employed in this study to investigate the WTP of two major stakeholder groups in two typical Chinese cities. In addition, the perception of stakeholders towards landfill charge policy was measured and the impact of various factors on WTP was explored. The results indicated that there were statistically significant disparities of WTP between cities and stakeholder groups. Stakeholders from Shenzhen were willing to pay more than their counterparts in Qingdao. Contractors were willing to pay less than owners. Respondents who evaluate the policy as effective in reducing construction waste landfill were willing to pay more. However, firm size, ownership, position of respondent and perceived equity factors did not show statistically significant effect on WTP. These findings highlight the necessity to customize landfill charge policy according to local socioeconomic conditions.