Factors associated with people’s willingness to pay for better solid waste management services in Lebanese rural areas : the case of Jdeidet Ghazir

Abstract

Along with political and social aspects, rapid, unplanned development in Lebanon have led to improper Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM), which resulted in a major solid waste crisis in 2015, where piles of garbage filled the streets of Lebanon. This crisis was also accompanied by a massive social movement, public protests, and led to more mistrust in the central government, which left some people asking for decentralization of the solid waste management and giving charge to municipalities rather than the government. Lebanese policy makers have doubted the willingness of Lebanese citizens to engage in and pay for an improved solid waste management project, especially in rural areas with middle to low income. In this project, the aim was to provide a case study in a rural area where people’s willingness to pay for improved MSWM services is tested. In addition, the study explored the municipality’s readiness to adopt decentralization as an approach for MSWM. In more details, this study examined the Willingness to Pay (WTP) for a hypothetically proposed integrated MSWM service (developed by the researcher) and its association with respondents’ recycling- composting awareness and practices, attitudes toward MSWM responsibility, socio-demographics, and political-economic factors in Jdeidet Ghazir, a village in the rural areas of Kesrouane Lebanon. The contingent valuation method was used to provide the evidence base for the financial feasibility and sustainability of adequate and improved MSWM in this village. Furthermore, the study aimed to investigate the municipality’s willingness to support the implementation of an integrated MSWM service as a step toward decentralization of the local MSWM services. A cross-sectional study design was employed to elicit respondents’ WTP for the proposed MSWM service through a payment card contingent valuation questionnaire. Data was collected from 228 households through a structured face-to-face interview with any available adult member of the