Wishing to finance a recycling program? Willingness-to-pay study for enhancing municipal solid waste recycling in urban settlements in Thailand

This study measured willingness to pay (WTP) for the addition of recycling services into existing municipal solid waste management in different types of settlements in Thailand. Questionnaire surveys were distributed in person to gather recycling-related socio-economic factors. The mean WTP was identified by the payment card method and analysed by interval regression. Analysis of results revealed that mean monthly WTPs increase, although not linearly, in the least urbanized areas (similar to 0.73 USD), the urbanized areas (similar to 1.96 USD), and the most urbanized areas (similar to 1.65 USD). Common factors that influenced WTP were (a) higher level education and (b) a habit of separating recyclables. However, other socioeconomic and recycling behaviour factors affected willingness to pay in each settlement differently. The mean WTP from each study site is consistently higher than the current rate for waste disposal, which signifies that average respondents from all study sites favoured recycling. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.