IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v166y2019ic9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Consumers in a Circular Economy: Economic Analysis of Household Waste Sorting Behaviour

Author

Listed:
  • Nainggolan, Doan
  • Pedersen, Anders Branth
  • Smed, Sinne
  • Zemo, Kahsay Haile
  • Hasler, Berit
  • Termansen, Mette

Abstract

The present research provides a quantitative assessment of households' preferences for different waste separation and handling schemes. We employ a choice-experiment based, nation-wide survey across Denmark. The findings support four different types of “waste sorters”; reflecting the heterogeneity in household waste sorting preferences. To illustrate, while one segment responds favourably towards sorting systems with the possibility for local collection points for hazardous waste and for sorting bio-waste, some segments express opposite responses. We found statistically significant relationships between the heterogeneity in household preferences for home waste sorting and households' sociodemographic characteristics, current self-reported time allocation for waste sorting and handling, use of recycling facilities as well as attitudinal factors on personal motivation and social influence. Furthermore, the findings reveal trade-offs between households' waste sorting preferences and the amount of time they have to spend sorting. We estimate a value of time for this pro-environmental activity of between 2.8 and 6.3 EUR per hour. Overall, the present research demonstrates that households express different preferences towards the practical design of waste sorting systems. This needs to be considered in the development of policy initiatives in order to achieve more effective sorting systems through higher rates of compliance from the public at large.

Suggested Citation

  • Nainggolan, Doan & Pedersen, Anders Branth & Smed, Sinne & Zemo, Kahsay Haile & Hasler, Berit & Termansen, Mette, 2019. "Consumers in a Circular Economy: Economic Analysis of Household Waste Sorting Behaviour," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:166:y:2019:i:c:9
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106402
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800919302976
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106402?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kjell Arne Brekke & Gorm Kipperberg & Karine Nyborg, 2010. "Social Interaction in Responsibility Ascription: The Case of Household Recycling," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 86(4), pages 766-784.
    2. Czajkowski, Mikołaj & Kądziela, Tadeusz & Hanley, Nick, 2014. "We want to sort! Assessing households’ preferences for sorting waste," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 290-306.
    3. Nyborg, Karine & Howarth, Richard B. & Brekke, Kjell Arne, 2006. "Green consumers and public policy: On socially contingent moral motivation," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 351-366, November.
    4. Heleen Bartelings & Thomas Sterner, 1999. "Household Waste Management in a Swedish Municipality: Determinants of Waste Disposal, Recycling and Composting," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 13(4), pages 473-491, June.
    5. Lee, Misuk & Choi, Hyunhong & Koo, Yoonmo, 2017. "Inconvenience cost of waste disposal behavior in South Korea," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 58-65.
    6. Annegrete Bruvoll & Karine Nyborg, 2002. "On the value of households' recycling efforts," Discussion Papers 316, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    7. Gorm Kipperberg, 2007. "A Comparison of Household Recycling Behaviors in Norway and the United States," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 36(2), pages 215-235, February.
    8. Massimiliano Borrello & Francesco Caracciolo & Alessia Lombardi & Stefano Pascucci & Luigi Cembalo, 2017. "Consumers’ Perspective on Circular Economy Strategy for Reducing Food Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, January.
    9. Gorm Kipperberg & Douglas Larson, 2012. "Heterogeneous Preferences for Community Recycling Programs," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 53(4), pages 577-604, December.
    10. Train,Kenneth E., 2009. "Discrete Choice Methods with Simulation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521747387, January.
    11. Peter Boxall & Wiktor Adamowicz, 2002. "Understanding Heterogeneous Preferences in Random Utility Models: A Latent Class Approach," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 23(4), pages 421-446, December.
    12. Heller, Marit H. & Vatn, Arild, 2017. "The divisive and disruptive effect of a weight-based waste fee," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 275-285.
    13. Abbott, Andrew & Nandeibam, Shasikanta & O'Shea, Lucy, 2011. "Explaining the variation in household recycling rates across the UK," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 2214-2223, September.
    14. Greene, William H. & Hensher, David A., 2003. "A latent class model for discrete choice analysis: contrasts with mixed logit," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 681-698, September.
    15. Christensen, Tove & Pedersen, Anders Branth & Nielsen, Helle Oersted & Mørkbak, Morten Raun & Hasler, Berit & Denver, Sigrid, 2011. "Determinants of farmers' willingness to participate in subsidy schemes for pesticide-free buffer zones--A choice experiment study," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(8), pages 1558-1564, June.
    16. Caplan, Arthur J. & Grijalva, Therese C. & Jakus, Paul M., 2002. "Waste not or want not? A contingent ranking analysis of curbside waste disposal options," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 185-197, December.
    17. Hong Seonghoon & Adams Richard M. & Love H. Alan, 1993. "An Economic Analysis of Household Recycling of Solid Wastes: The Case of Portland, Oregon," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 136-146, September.
    18. Huhtala, Anni, 2010. "Income effects and the inconvenience of private provision of public goods for bads: The case of recycling in Finland," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 1675-1681, June.
    19. Jara-Díaz, Sergio R. & Munizaga, Marcela A. & Greeven, Paulina & Guerra, Reinaldo & Axhausen, Kay, 2008. "Estimating the value of leisure from a time allocation model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 42(10), pages 946-957, December.
    20. Gilli, Marianna & Nicolli, Francesco & Farinelli, Paola, 2018. "Behavioural attitudes towards waste prevention and recycling," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 294-305.
    21. Romy Greiner, 2016. "Factors influencing farmers’ participation in contractual biodiversity conservation: a choice experiment with northern Australian pastoralists," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 60(1), pages 1-21, January.
    22. Gradus, Raymond H.J.M. & Nillesen, Paul H.L. & Dijkgraaf, Elbert & van Koppen, Rick J., 2017. "A Cost-effectiveness Analysis for Incineration or Recycling of Dutch Household Plastic Waste," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 22-28.
    23. Berglund, Christer, 2006. "The assessment of households' recycling costs: The role of personal motives," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 560-569, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xuan Thi Dan Huynh & Tien Dung Khong & Adam Loch & Huynh Viet Khai, 2023. "Solid waste management program in developing countries: contingent valuation methodology versus choice experiment," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(11), pages 12395-12417, November.
    2. Ioannis E. Nikolaou & Nikoleta Jones & Alexandros Stefanakis, 2021. "Circular Economy and Sustainability: the Past, the Present and the Future Directions," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Alessandro Concari & Gerjo Kok & Pim Martens, 2020. "A Systematic Literature Review of Concepts and Factors Related to Pro-Environmental Consumer Behaviour in Relation to Waste Management Through an Interdisciplinary Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-50, May.
    4. Feng, Jianghong & Xu, Su Xiu & Xu, Gangyan & Cheng, Huibing, 2022. "An integrated decision-making method for locating parking centers of recyclable waste transportation vehicles," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    5. Giuseppe Di Liddo & Annalisa Vinella, 2021. "Centralized standards and local taxation in municipal waste management," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(4), pages 603-619, December.
    6. Pfister, Naomi & Mathys, Nicole A., 2022. "Waste taxes at work: Evidence from the canton of Vaud in Switzerland," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    7. Nicola Laurieri & Andrea Lucchese & Antonella Marino & Salvatore Digiesi, 2020. "A Door-to-Door Waste Collection System Case Study: A Survey on its Sustainability and Effectiveness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-23, July.
    8. Li, Ye & Yang, Tianjian & Zhang, Yu, 2022. "Evolutionary game theory-based system dynamics modeling for community solid waste classification in China," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Xu, Lulin & Li, Zhongwu, 2024. "The impact of “Internet plus” enterprises on municipal solid waste classification and social welfare: An example from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    10. Md. Abdul Moktadir & Anil Kumar & Syed Mithun Ali & Sanjoy Kumar Paul & Razia Sultana & Jafar Rezaei, 2020. "Critical success factors for a circular economy: Implications for business strategy and the environment," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3611-3635, December.
    11. Woon, Kok Sin & Phuang, Zhen Xin & Lin, Zuchao & Lee, Chew Tin, 2021. "A novel food waste management framework combining optical sorting system and anaerobic digestion: A case study in Malaysia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    12. Miranda, Bruno Varella & Monteiro, Guilherme Fowler A. & Rodrigues, Vinicius Picanço, 2021. "Circular agri-food systems: A governance perspective for the analysis of sustainable agri-food value chains," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    13. Ying Xu & Sarah Ann Wheeler & Firmin Doko Tchatoka, 2023. "Evaluating policy changes on council waste generation and diversion: Evidence from South Australia," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(4), pages 541-557, October.
    14. Zhang, Junting & Qin, Quande & Li, Guangming & Tseng, Chao-Heng & Fang, Guohao, 2023. "Assessing the impact of waste separation on system transition and environmental performance through a city-scale life cycle assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    15. Yeneneh Tamirat Negash & Abdiqani Muse Hassan & Bayarjargal Batbaatar & Pei-Kuan Lin, 2021. "Household Waste Separation Intentions in Mongolia: Persuasive Communication Leads to Perceived Convenience and Behavioral Control," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-23, October.
    16. Mutuku, Judith & Tocock, Mark & Yanotti, Maria & Tinch, Dugald & Hatton MacDonald, Darla, 2024. "Public perceptions of the value of reducing marine plastics in Australian waters," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    17. Julie Metta & Coline Metta-Versmessen & Valeria Alvarado, 2024. "Managing Municipal Solid Waste with low citizen involvement: the case of Hong Kong," Working Papers 2024.03, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    18. D'Adamo, Idiano & Falcone, Pasquale Marcello & Imbert, Enrica & Morone, Piergiuseppe, 2020. "A Socio-economic Indicator for EoL Strategies for Bio-based Products," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Czajkowski, Mikolaj & Hanley, Nicholas & Nyborg, Karine, 2014. "Social norms, morals and self-interest as determinants of pro-environment behaviour," Stirling Economics Discussion Papers 2014-06, University of Stirling, Division of Economics.
    2. Lee, Misuk & Choi, Hyunhong & Koo, Yoonmo, 2017. "Inconvenience cost of waste disposal behavior in South Korea," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 58-65.
    3. repec:sss:wpaper:201403 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Czajkowski, Mikołaj & Kądziela, Tadeusz & Hanley, Nick, 2014. "We want to sort! Assessing households’ preferences for sorting waste," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 290-306.
    5. Mikolaj Czajkowski & Katarzyna Zagórska & Nick Hanley, 2018. "Social Norms and Pro-Environment Behaviours: Heterogeneous Response to Signals," Discussion Papers in Environment and Development Economics 2018-02, University of St. Andrews, School of Geography and Sustainable Development.
    6. Brian Chi-ang Lin & Siqi Zheng & Ankinée Kirakozian, 2016. "One Without The Other? Behavioural And Incentive Policies For Household Waste Management," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 526-551, July.
    7. Czajkowski, Mikołaj & Zagórska, Katarzyna & Hanley, Nick, 2019. "Social norm nudging and preferences for household recycling," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    8. Alessandro Concari & Gerjo Kok & Pim Martens, 2020. "A Systematic Literature Review of Concepts and Factors Related to Pro-Environmental Consumer Behaviour in Relation to Waste Management Through an Interdisciplinary Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-50, May.
    9. Ek, Claes, 2018. "Prosocial behavior and policy spillovers: A multi-activity approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 356-371.
    10. Damiano Fiorillo & Luigi Senatore, 2020. "Pro-social behaviours, waste concern and recycling behaviour in Italy at the end of the 1990s," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 22(2), pages 127-151, April.
    11. Fiorillo, Damiano & Senatore, Luigi, 2016. "Self Image and Environmental Attitude and Behavior," MPRA Paper 74888, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Brian Chi-ang Lin & Siqi Zheng & Marie Briguglio, 2016. "Household Cooperation In Waste Management: Initial Conditions And Intervention," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 497-525, July.
    13. Bucciol, Alessandro & Montinari, Natalia & Piovesan, Marco, 2019. "It Wasn't Me! Visibility and Free Riding in Waste Disposal," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 394-401.
    14. Hage, Olle & Söderholm, Patrik & Berglund, Christer, 2009. "Norms and economic motivation in household recycling: Empirical evidence from Sweden," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 155-165.
    15. Gorm Kipperberg & Douglas Larson, 2012. "Heterogeneous Preferences for Community Recycling Programs," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 53(4), pages 577-604, December.
    16. Julia Blasch & Robert W. Turner, 2016. "Environmental art, prior knowledge about climate change, and carbon offsets," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 6(4), pages 691-705, December.
    17. Zandersen, Marianne & Jørgensen, Sisse Liv & Nainggolan, Doan & Gyldenkærne, Steen & Winding, Anne & Greve, Mogens Humlekrog & Termansen, Mette, 2016. "Potential and economic efficiency of using reduced tillage to mitigate climate effects in Danish agriculture," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 14-22.
    18. Yokoo, Hide-Fumi & Kawai, Kosuke & Higuchi, Yuki, 2018. "Informal recycling and social preferences: Evidence from household survey data in Vietnam," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 109-124.
    19. Katarzyna Zagórska, 2016. "Impact of local and national social norm information on respondents’ choices regarding waste sorting at household level," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 44.
    20. Olivier Beaumais & Apolline Niérat, 2019. "Exploring in-depth joint pro-environmental behaviors: a multivariate ordered probit approach," Working Papers hal-02361390, HAL.
    21. D'Amato, Alessio & Mancinelli, Susanna & Zoli, Mariangela, 2016. "Complementarity vs substitutability in waste management behaviors," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 84-94.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:166:y:2019:i:c:9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.