Towards Sustainable Cities: The Spillover Effects of Waste-Sorting Policies on Sustainable Consumption

Shu Yang, Peng Cheng, Shanyong Wang and Jun Li
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Shu Yang: College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
Peng Cheng: Department of Marketing & Logistics Management, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing 210046, China
Shanyong Wang: Department of Public Affairs, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Jun Li: School of Economics, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: The increasing amount of waste in cities poses a great challenge for sustainable development. Promoting waste sorting is one of the priorities for various levels of public authorities in the context of the rapid growth of waste generation all around China. To achieve this goal, waste-sorting policies should be precisely designed to ensure successful waste reduction at all stages. Previous studies have neglected the spillover effects of different regulatory policies, which may affect the overall goal of reducing waste by influencing different waste production stages. This paper fills this gap by comparing the spillover effects of two typical waste-sorting policies on sustainable consumption behaviours through a survey conducted in Shanghai and Beijing (control group). By combining quasi-natural experiment and questionnaire methods, this paper analyses data through a mediation test to explore the spillover effects between different regulatory policy groups and the effects of the mediation psychological factors. Results show that a penalty policy significantly decreases people’s sustainable consumption behaviours through a negative spillover effect, while a voluntary participation policy significantly increases sustainable consumption behaviours through a positive spillover effect. Results can provide implications for policymaking in waste management and other pro-environmental fields to help cities become more sustainable by shifting multiple behaviours.

Keywords: waste sorting; sustainable consumption; regulatory policy; spillover effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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