How Does NIMBYism Influence Residents’ Behavioral Willingness to Dispose of Waste in Centralized Collection Points?—An Empirical Study of Nanjing, China

Abstract

Residents’ low behavioral willingness to dispose of waste in Centralized Collection Points (CCPs) seriously hinders the operational efficiency in waste collection of CCPs regarded as NIMBY (‘not in my backyard’) facilities. However, fewer researchers notice NIMBY facilities with low hazards. It has been ignored that the NIMBYism may influence behavioral willingness during the operation period persistently. Meanwhile, there is no consistent conclusions on internal factors of waste behavioral willingness, which deserves further study. Therefore, this study took CCPs as a research object and aimed to investigate how NIMBYism influences residents’ behavioral willingness to dispose of waste in CCPs. The extended theory of planned behavior and structural equation modeling approach involving 550 respondents were adopted to conduct the analysis. The results revealed that attitude (β = 0.295, p < 0.001), government trust (β = 0.479, p < 0.001), and perceived behavioral control (β = 0.222, p < 0.001) have statistical positive impacts on behavioral willingness to dispose of waste in CCPs. Perceived risk (β = ‒0.047, p = 0.022 < 0.05) can influence behavioral willingness negatively. Additionally, government trust (β = 0.726, p < 0.001) exerts a positive impact on attitude. Furthermore, relevant strategies were proposed to enhance residents’ behavioral willingness to dispose of waste in CCPs. This study is expected to inspire the government to formulate policies from the aspects of standards and regulations, resident participation, construction, and publicity. It will provide the government instructive suggestions for the smooth operation of CCPs, and ultimately building a healthy and environment friendly society.