Title: Willingness-to-pay for solid waste management service attributes: Kolkata Municipal Corporation area, India, as a case study

Authors: Tumpa Hazra; Sudha Goel; Bhargab Maitra

Addresses: Civil Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kokata, 700032, India ' Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302, India ' Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302, India

Abstract: This paper examines public perceptions towards qualitative and quantitative attributes of a solid waste management (SWM) system in terms of willingness-to-pay (WTP) values. A stated choice (SC) survey instrument was designed and data was collected from residents in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) of West Bengal, India. Respondents were approached randomly and face-to-face interviews were carried out. The behavioural data collected from residents are analysed by developing a standard multinomial logit (MNL) model and model coefficients are used for calculating the WTP values. Using the WTP values, the total disutility of SWM system is expressed in the form of generalised cost (GC).

Keywords: solid waste management; SWM; stated choice; multinomial logit model; willingness-to-pay; WTP; India; public perceptions; waste disposal.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2013.056627

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2013 Vol.12 No.4, pp.406 - 421

Accepted: 24 Dec 2011
Published online: 20 Sep 2014 *

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