Determinants of Residential Solid Waste Management Services Provision: A Village-Level Analysis in Rural China

Abstract

Providing residential solid waste collection (RSWC) services is the first and most indispensable part of residential solid waste management and is crucial for rural environment protection. This paper seeks to analyze the determinants of RSWC services' provision at the village level, based on a latest survey data set of 150 villages in the Poyang Lake Eco-Economic Zone (PLEEZ) in Jiangxi Province. Using a Probit regression model and a Bivariate Probit regression model, our results indicated that: (1) The provision of RSWC services is not evenly distributed and richer villages have more RSWC services; (2) A showcasing phenomenon exists in the provision of RSWC services. Villages that are more populous, nearer to the township government, and located in the new countryside and old liberated areas saw an increase in the provision of RSWC facilities, services that will more easily showcase village leaders' political achievement, while the provision of RSWC workers and both RSWC facilities and workers, services that will less easily showcase village leaders' political achievement, do not increase in these villages; (3) Informal governance characteristics, such as the ratio of largest family clans, whether village leaders come from the village's largest family clans, and the number of people working in the upper-level government have strong predictive power over the provision of RSWC services, while formal governance characteristics, such as elections, do not matter in RSWC services' provision.

Determinants and the Moderating Effect of Perceived Policy Effectiveness on Residents’ Separation Intention for Rural Household Solid Waste

“…With the nation’s rapid economic development, rural areas in China are now confronted with serious environmental problems caused by a sharp increase of rural residential solid waste (RRSW) [ 1 ]. It is estimated that the annual growth rate of RRSW was 8–10% from 2000 to 2010 and reached 150 million tons as of 2015 [ 2 ]. The rising level of solid waste from rural households has led to “villages besieged with waste” becoming a serious problem in the rural areas in China, which has resulted in worsening environment that threatens the health of local residents [ 3 ].…”

“…Current studies of RRSW management are mainly from the perspective of technology, public facilities planning and provision, and macro influencing factors [ 10 , 11 ]. In the studies investigating the determinants of RRSW management, macroeconomic characteristics and social capital are the main indicators involved [ 2 , 12 ]. As shown in studies of MSW separation, residents are the basis of the whole system, since the separation behavior should be carried out by the residents themselves.…”

“…First, few published studies investigate the determinants of RRSW separation from the perspective of local residents. Most of the previous studies investigated determinants of RRSW reduction from the perspective of macroeconomic, geographic, and social capital factors [ 2 , 12 ]. There are few research efforts that investigate from the perspective of residents’ personal and psychological factors, compared to numerous fruitful outcomes of such efforts in the domain of MSW separation.…”

The Impact of Education and Residential Environment on Long-Term Waste Management Behavior in the Context of Sustainability

“…Regarding the second factor (the demographic one, by residence area) it is noted that in many low-urbanization areas there is no uniform, equal distribution of solid waste collection services, but there is a hierarchy of rural localities according to their financial strength to provide solid residential waste collection services, as well as some informal features of governance (such as involving local wealthy families in local governance) [64,65].…”

Innovation Mode and Effective Ways of Realizing Rural Public Management under Accurate Poverty Alleviation

“…At present, the intensity, scale and impact of poverty alleviation work carried out in rural areas across the country can be called unprecedented. In order to win this battle, the Party Central Committee adhered to the principle of problem orientation in accordance with China's basic national conditions and the party's fundamental mission, and initiated a precise poverty alleviation project (Pan, Ying, & Huang, 2017). In the work of poverty alleviation, the government's policy intentions and the farmers' willingness requirements need to be conveyed and implemented through the village level.…”