Willingness and Behaviors of Farmers’ Green Disposal of Pesticide Packaging Waste in Henan, China: A Perceived Value Formation Mechanism Perspective

Abstract

Environmental pollution as a result of the improper disposal of pesticide packaging wastes (PPWs) has posed serious harm to groundwater, soil and public health. However, few studies focused on PPWs green disposal willingness and behaviors of farmers from the perspective of perceived value. Based on the first-hand data, collected from 635 farmers of grain-producing counties in Henan province of China, through the questionnaire survey method, this paper adopted a structural equation model (SEM) to empirically explore the formation mechanism of perceived value on PPWs green disposal, and green disposal willingness and behaviors were further in-depth investigated. The results showed that the action of farmers’ green disposal of PPWs followed the causal relationship, whereby perceived value→behavioral willingness→behavioral performance, and farmers’ perceived value came from the comprehensive tradeoff and comparison between perceived benefits and perceived risks. Meanwhile, the perceived benefits and perceived risks could have significant effects on green disposal willingness and behaviors directly and indirectly, among which perceived benefits (0.478) had the greatest positive total effects on the willingness, and perceived risks (−0.362) had the greatest negative total effects on the behaviors. Interestingly, there existed inconsistence between farmers’ green disposal willingness and behaviors. When faced with the choice of PPWs green disposal, the farmers were generally risk averse, which resulted in them being more inclined to take conservative behaviors driven by the profit maximization, and even showed the “powerless” state with willingness but no actual action.