Chinese Households’ Recycling Behavior - Analysis of Resident Survey in Harbin, China

Zhujie Chu, Laura Meriluoto, Ying Li and Bolin Chen

Working Papers in Economics from University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance

Abstract: China’s rapid rates of urbanization and income growth have led to skyrocketing of the accumulation of domestic solid waste in landfills. Various policies have been adopted by the municipal governments, including the city of Harbin, to improve incentives for recycling in an attempt to reduce solid waste accumulation, but the effects of these efforts appear to have been mixed. The aim of this paper is to gain further understanding of the factors that influence households’ recycling behavior. We administered a survey to residents of Harbin city to measure their recycling frequency as well as their understanding of and attitudes towards household solid waste management. We apply ordered logistic regression analysis to study the impact of the survey variables and socioeconomic factors on the frequency of recycling. We find that knowledge, attitudes about sorting and reuse, attitudes about government involvement in recycling programs, and understanding of the environmental effects of recycling have positive effects on recycling frequency. Education plays a significant positive role while gender, income and age play no significant role in recycling frequency.

Keywords: Solid waste; recycling; survey; peer pressure; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2016-04-14
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna and nep-tra
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cbt:econwp:16/08

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