The impact of environmental benefits and institutional trust on residents’ willingness to participate in municipal solid waste treatment: a case study in Beijing, China

Abstract

Abstract The municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment is capable of significantly boosting healthy and orderly urban development. Urban dwellers act as generators and direct beneficiaries of the effectiveness of waste management. The present study aims to determine the impact of environmental benefits and institutional trust on residents’ willingness to participate in MSW treatment (willingness to be paid (WTA) and willingness to pay (WTP)) by complying with micro-survey data from residents of four districts in Beijing, with the use of the tobit model. In addition, environmental benefits and institutional trust interaction effects are incorporated into the analysis. As revealed from the results: (1) positive environmental benefits can significantly decrease WTA and increase WTP; negative environmental benefits significantly increase WTA and decrease WTP. (2) Institutional trust is capable of significantly decreasing WTA and increasing WTP. (3) When positive environmental benefits and institutional trust are incorporated, residents have significantly lower WTA and noticeably higher WTP; when negative environmental benefits and institutional trust are incorporated, WTA of the population is significantly higher and their WTP is significantly lower. Besides, years of education and household status negatively affect residents’ WTA, in which households with higher incomes have relatively higher WTP for engagement in waste management. The mentioned findings place the following stresses: (1) improving the positive environmental benefits of urban living and establishing a system of compensation for negative environmental benefits, (2) creating a good climate of trust in the system and elevating the level of trust in the system among residents and (3) raising residents’ awareness of environmental protection and enhancing the effectiveness of urban waste management.