Households’ Preferences and Willingness to Pay for Improved Solid Waste Management Interventions Using Choice Experiment Approach: Debre Tabor Town, Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Good Solid Waste Managemnt (SWM) practices are indispensable for maintaining quality environment and the health of urban dwellers in most developing countries, like Ethiopia. However, for successful implementation of adequate SWM options, households’ preferences and their Willingness to Pay (WTP) should be taken in to consideration. The main aim of this study was to analyse the preferences of households’ and estimate the WTP for improved SWM service attributes in the form of money income and labor effort using choice experiment approach. Multi-stage stratified random sampling design was used to draw sample households and primary data was collected from 220 households living in Debre Tabor town. In addition to the standard conditional logit model, the Random Parameter Logit Model (RPLM) and the Latent Class Models (LCM) were estimated to relax the independent of the irrelevant alternatives assumption and account preferences heterogeneity for various SWM attributes. The RPL results indicated that preferences for all attributes were heterogonous among households, a conclusion that was supported by the wide variation in LCM estimates between classes.  Based on the implicit price,mode of transportation was the foremost attribute followed by solid waste disposal method, and  service delivery institute and sorting of solid waste was the least important attributes. The welfare measure result showed that households were WTP a considerable amount of money for the improved SWM interventions scenario. The result further revealed that respondents with higher level of income, higher level of education and female headed households preferred the upswing SWM interventions. The finding showed that analyzing households’ preferences is very important to prioritize among alternatives for the implementation of good SWM. Therefore, studying this aspect can contribute to the successful implementation of sound SWM practices. In order to achieve adequate SWM options, it is also recommended that the urban planner or concerned body need to take account  households’ preferences for improved SWM interventions.

Keywords: Choice Experiment Approach, Debre Tabor, Solid Waste Management , Willingness to Pay