Capturing Household Preferences on Solid Waste Management Services in Urban Areas of Developing Countries

摘要

Solid waste generation is an increasing global problem. The problem is more pronounced in developing countries due to experienced budget constraints and lack of strong institutions in the management of waste collections and disposals. Local government authorities in Tanzania have made efforts to ensure proper solid waste management especially in urban areas. Despite these initiatives solid waste management is still a key environmental problem in most urban areas of the country. This may be due to non-inclusion of household preferences on solid waste management when designing solid waste management services. A Choice Experiment Method was used in this study to determine household preferences on solid waste management services in order to design sustainable solid waste management services in Kinondoni municipality. The results showed that both low and high income households in Kinondoni Municipality prefer solid waste management services. The mostly preferred solid waste management service attributes were frequency of solid waste collection and use of vehicles while provision of polythene bags attribute was not preferred by households. The findings showed that are high variations in household preferences for solid waste management services caused mainly by socio-economic characteristics such as income. In order to improve solid waste management in Kinondoni municipality, policy makers and solid waste management service providers should incorporate household preferences on solid waste management services when designing these services.