Journal of Natural Environment

Investigating the behavioral patterns of households regarding waste separation at source: A case study in Mashhad

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 MSc Student, Department of Agricultural Economics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

2 Professor, Department of agricultural economics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

3 1MSc Student, Department of Agricultural Economics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

Abstract

Considering the increase in waste production, scarcity of land allocated to landfill in urban areas, concerns about ecological damages caused by hazardous waste and damages done to the environment, municipal waste management has become of tremendous importance. The study investigated the behavioral patterns of households regarding waste separation at source using data collected through interviewing 391 households in Mashhad in 2013. Tobit model and Heckman two stage model were used. Analysis of marginal effect of variables in Probit model revealed that views about effect of separation of waste in city cleanness had positive effect and economic incentives had negative effect on decisions to Separate paper, glass and wet wastes. The variable of having garden in the house had a positive effect and indirect cost of paying those who collect the waste and family income had negative effects on decisions to separate wet waste from dry ones.Also, the analysis of linear regression (second stage) showed that the views about the effect of waste separation in city had a positive effect on the amount of wet waste separation, and indirect cost of paying those who collect the waste and family income had a negative effect on it. Based on the findings, in order to increase waste separation by households, it is recommended that the policy makers should consider providingthe households with the information about environmental issues regarding waste and how to correctly separate recyclable waste, establishing motivational mechanisms to decrease waste production and increasing households' participation in waste separation.
 
 

Keywords

  1. Abdoli, M., Karbasi, A., Gaznavi Kashani, M., 2009. Waste recycling case study in Tehran. 12thConference on Environmental Health, Martyr Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Faculty of health, Fall 2009.(In Persian)
  2. Afroz, R., Tudin, R., Keisuke, H., Masud, M.M., 2011. Selected socio- economic factors affecting the willingness to minimize solid waste in Dhaka city, Bangladesh. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 54(6): 711–731.
  3. Far Mohammadi, S., Arab, A., Mohammadzade, Sh., 2007. Practices of public participation and the economic effects on rural waste management (province of Yazd, Esfahan and Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari). 3th National Conference onWaste, 501-509.(In Persian)
  4. Fatehnia, A., Farzad Kia, M., Taghdisi, M., 2011. Check the status of source separation of municipal solid waste and ways to increase popular participation in area 5 of Tehran. Tehran University of Medical Sciences.(In Persian)
  5. Ghahremani, F., Mohebbi, M., Najafi, H., 2009. Assessment of knowledge and cooperation of the people in the recycling of plastics from household waste Shiraz in 2007. 12thNational Conference on Environmental Health, Martyr Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Fall 2009, 1863-1869.(In Persian)
  6. Ghorbani, M., 2003. Waste management services, with an emphasis on value, report presented to the municipality.(In Persian)
  7. Ghorbani, M., Dehghanian, S., Kohansal, M., 2008. Survey willingness amount and factors affecting the conversion of waste to be composted by households in the metropolis city of Mashhad. 3th National Congress of recycling and using renewable organic resources in agriculture, 140-152.(In Persian)
  8. Green, W.H., 1993. Econometric analysis. 2nd edition. new york,macmillan, 791.
  9. Hamzeh, H., Jamalipour, M., Kaseb, A., Bakhshi, A., Lavshabi, A., Ghorbani, M., 2013. Investigating the effecting factors on Participation Households Agricultural Waste Separation Scheme in Origin: A Case Study of Mashhad. 6th Symposium on Losses of Agricultural Products. November 20.(In Persian)
  10. Heckman, j., 1979. The common structure of statistical models of truncation, sample selection and limited dependent variables and a simple estimator for such models, Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, 5:475-492.
  11. Hong S., Adams R.M., Love H.A., 1991, An economic analysis of household recycling of solid wastes: the case of Portland , Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 25: 136-146.

 

  1. Hong, S., 2001. The price factor for municipal solid waste reduction: the impact of unit pricing system. The Korean Economic, 49(1): 203-221.
  2. Jenkins, R.R., Martinez, S.A., Palmer, K., Podolsky, M.J., 2003. The determinants of household recycling: a material-specific analysis of recycling program features and unit pricing. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 45(2): 294-318.
  3. Johari, Z., Kholdi, N., Tadayyon, B., Hashemi, R., 2009. Knowledge, attitude and practice of health care referred to in relation to recycling. 12thNational Conference on Environmental Health, Martyr Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health, pp. 2171-2177.(In Persian)
  4. Joseph, K., 2006. Stakeholder participation for sustainable waste management. Habitat International, 30, pp. 863-871.
  5. Kheybari,Kh., 2007. Separation from the source and mechanization collection systems recyclable materials the attitude of the managerial and executive model used in Mashhad. 3thNational Conference onWaste Management,pp. 45-59. (In Persian)
  6. Matter, A., Dietschi, M., Zurbrug, C., 2013.Improving the informal recycling sector through segregation of waste in the household - The case study of Dhaka Bangladesh, Habitat International ,38, pp. 150-156.
  7. Meinhold, J.L., Malkus, A.J., 2005. Adolescent environmental behaviors: can knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy make a difference? Environment & Behavior, 37(4): 511-532.
  8. Monavvari, M., Abedi, Z., Ghorreh Bakhsh, H., 2008. Survey economic value household waste recycling region 20 of tehran municipality. Science Environmental Technology, 10(4): 73-80. (In Persian)
  9. Mostafapour kandelosi, K., 2001. Attitudes survey citizens of Tehran 7th district of participation in urban management , PhD thesis, Azad University Central Tehran Branch.(In Persian)
  10. Naghavi, R., Deyri, A., 2007. Survey solid waste management in Tehran. 3thNational Conference on Waste Management, pp. 325-348.(In Persian)
  11. Richardson, R.A., Hvlicek, J.J., 1978. Economic analysis of the composition of household solid wastes, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 5:103-111.
  12. Sarvar, R., 2012. Social assess the impact source separation of waste project In urban areas a case study of region 21 of Tehran Municipality, Journal ofAgronomy and Plant Breeding, 10(33):49-69.(In Persian)
  13. Simpson, D., 2012. Institutional pressure and wastereduction: The role of investments in wastereduction resources, International Journal of Production Economics, 139(1): 330–339.
  14. Sinha, K.H., Enayetullah, I., Kumar Roy, S., Kabir, S.M., Rahman, M., Masum, M., 2006.Report on baseline survey on solid wastemanagement in uttara model town, unpublished results.
  15. Shams Khorram Abadi, GH., Pour Zaman, H., 2006. People role in solid waste management in the Khorramabad city in 2005, Quarterly Research Journal of Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, 8(4): 25-30.(In Persian)
  16. Sterner, T., Barteling, H., 1999. Household waste management in Swedish Municipality: Determinate of waste disposal, recycling and composting,Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics, 13: 473-491.
  17. Tobin, J., 1958. Estimation of relationships for limited dependent variables. Econometrica, 26(1): 24-36.
  18. Ying Zhuang. Song-Wei, Wu., Yun-Long Wang, Wei-Xiang Wu., Ying-Xu Chen., 2008. Source separation of household waste: A case study in China. Waste Management, 28(10): 2022–2030.

 

 

 

Journal of Natural Environment
Volume 68, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
June 2015
Pages 31-44