Poverty and Preference for Improved Solid Waste Management Attributes in Delta-State, Nigeria

The paper assessed household’s preference for improved solid waste management in Asaba, Delta-State. Data were collected from a random sample of 115 households and the state waste management board through the use of a well- structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Alkire and Foster multidimensional poverty methodology, the choice experiment and the conditional logistic regression model. The mean age of the household heads was 39 years with only 33.91 percent headed by females. The household heads are largely literate with an average of 14 years spent in school. The poverty status at dimensional cut-off of k=4, revealed that 25.2 percent of the households were identified as poor. The likelihood of households choosing an improved waste management option was influenced positively by the educational status of the household head, the number of working household members and negatively by the household’s poverty status. The mean willingness to pay estimate is N1546.32 per month but reduced to N619.80, with consideration given to their socioeconomic characteristics. In order of importance of attributes to household’s willingness to pay; separation of waste ranks first, followed by provision of waste container, disposal method, service provider and collection frequency. It is recommended that the improved solid waste management (SWM) option to be proposed to households must include separation of waste and provision of waste containers. Also, the proposed fee for SWM should not be uniform for all categories of households. Due regard should be given to the poverty status of households in the different communities in the state.