research
Willingness to pay for recycling food waste in the Brisbane Region
- Publication date
- Publisher
Abstract
Kerbside recycling in Australia has focused on paper, cardboard, plastics and bottles and in some areas green waste. Another area for potential kerbside recycling is organic waste. This study uses a dichotomous choice contingent valuation format with follow-up open-ended willingness to pay question to estimate the household willingness to pay for the introduction of a kerbside recycling scheme for kitchen waste. Two provision rules were used. The first sample split contained a majority decision rule while the second sample split contained a provision rule where participation is voluntary. Households across the Brisbane statistical sub-division currently pay in the order of 250perannumfortheirkerbsidewastecollectionscheme.ThisstudyindicatesthatonaverageBrisbanehouseholdswouldbeWTPanadditional32 to 35peryearforageneralwastebinwherefoodwasteissplitfromgeneralwaste.Therewasnosignificantdifferenceinresultsbetweensamplesplitswithmajorityorvoluntaryprovisionrules.Whethertheprovisionofafoodwasterecyclingschemeiseconomicallyefficientrequiresaconsiderationofallthepotentialcostsandbenefits.Otherrelevantcostsandbenefitsforinclusioninabenefitcostanalysiswouldincludethoseassociatedwithbinreplacement,anyadditionalcollectionandtransportcosts,compostingcosts,revenuesfromcompostsalesandavoidedlandfillcosts.Ifacompulsoryfoodwasterecyclingschemecouldbeprovidedtoallhouseholdsforlessthan32 to $35 per household per annum then the benefits of the scheme would exceed the costs and would be considered to be economically efficient and desirable from a community welfare perspective. Given the difficulties of estimating precise WTP values from dichotomous choice data, any BCA of a compulsory scheme incorporating the results of this study should undertake sensitivity testing that includes the range of values reported including dichotomous choice and open-ended means to determine the robustness of BCA results to variations in the welfare estimate. Notwithstanding, the results of any BCA, decision-makers also need to be cognisant of the high proportion of respondents who did not support a kerbside food waste recycling scheme. The data from the study could also be used to undertake a BCA of a voluntary scheme.Environmental Economics and Policy,