Farmers’ Preference for Participating in Rural Solid Waste Management: A Case Study from Shaanxi Province, China

Abstract

Rural solid waste management is an important method to improve rural living environments. Farmers’ participation in rural solid waste management plays an essential role in sustainable waste management. Based on the micro-survey data of 592 farmers in Shaanxi province, a multinomial logit model was applied to explore farmers’ preferences for participating in rural solid waste management. The empirical results show that both institutional and interpersonal trust have significant positive effects on farmers’ payment participation, and labor and payment participation. Among environmental awareness, farmers with pro-environmental behavior prefer labor participation, and labor and payment participation; the more environmental knowledge farmers have, the stronger their preferences for payment participation, labor and payment participation, and labor participation; farmers concerned about environmental problems are more inclined to adopt labor and payment participation or payment participation. For socio-demographic characteristics, gender has no significant influence, while agricultural net income and education can significantly increase farmers’ willingness to participate; farmers who have migrant work experience prefer to participate in payment; there are obvious intergenerational differences in the influence of social trust and environmental awareness on farmers’ participation preference. Therefore, providing diversified participation modes, creating a good social trust environment, and enhancing farmers’ awareness of environmental care are important in promoting rural solid waste management.