Title: Willingness to pay for sachet water plastic waste management through deposit-refund system

Authors: Matthew Biniyam Kursah; Anthony Baabereyir

Addresses: Department of Geography Education, University of Education Winneba (UEW), Box 25, North Campus, Winneba, Central Region, Ghana ' Department of Geography Education, University of Education Winneba (UEW), Box 25, North Campus, Winneba, Central Region, Ghana

Abstract: This study was conducted in order to ascertain whether residents in Accra-Tema are willing to pay for sachet water plastic waste management using the deposit refund system (DRS), how much they are willing to pay as well as their concerns on the implementation of this policy instrument. It also correlated the willingness to pay amount (WTPA) against socio-economic variables of the respondents. Through accidental sampling technique, respondents were randomly approached to participate in the questionnaire administration, and their responses analysed in SPSS. The result showed a high level of WTP (64.8%) among participants. The minimum WTPA is 1 GHp and the maximum is 20 GHp, the same amount it costs to purchase sachet water. The mean WTPA per a sachet is approximately 8 GHp (7.75 GHp), that is, 40% of the current unit cost of the product. The result also showed that lower income earners were willing to pay a higher amount as deposit-refund than the high-income earners. Some concerns about DRS implementation were also raised.

Keywords: deposit-refund system; DRS; disposal fee; midnight dumping; waste disposal; waste management; willingness to pay; WTP; indiscriminate waste disposal; indiscriminate waste dumping; sachet water.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2019.097612

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2019 Vol.23 No.2, pp.141 - 155

Accepted: 30 Apr 2018
Published online: 31 Jan 2019 *

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