Provision of Residential Solid Waste Management Service in Rural China

Abstract

Drawing on a dataset covering a large number of randomly sampled villages across China, the present paper examines the issue of residential solid waste management service provision in rural China. Using a logistic model we evaluate the impacts of different factors on service provision at the village level with regard to residential solid waste disposal. These factors include the environmental pressures caused by residential solid waste generation, the financial capacity of the Villagers' Committee, village elections and the individual characteristics of village heads. We find that living density, village per capita income, the ratio of irrigated land, and the per capita profit submitted by village enterprises to the Villagers' Committee all have positive impacts on service provision. Moreover, village heads who are popularly elected by villagers are more likely to provide services that satisfy voters' demands. Copyright (c) 2008 The Authors Journal compilation (c) 2008 Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Rural Solid Waste Management in China: Status, Problems and Challenges

“…Without the latter two steps (waste transport and safe disposal practices), RSWM is ultimately ineffective, with unregulated treatment and disposal practices leading to environmental pollution. Given recent government investment and regulatory efforts to improve RSWM processes, we find that RSWM services have improved greatly since 2005 [40,41]. However, growth across the different stages of RSWM varies [39,40].…”

Rural domestic waste management in Zhejiang Province, China: Characteristics, current practices, and an improved strategy

“…While the county authority holds the ultimate responsibility for the disposal of RDW according to the regulation of CMEP (2007), the RDW disposal has to undergo three administration levels-county, town, and village-as shown in Figures 3 and 4. According to the regulation of CMEP (2007), the total (combined) RDW should be collected first from individual villages, transferred to the county-designated disposal site by the responsible township (a town manages~30 villages), and finally disposed of at the solid waste treatment facilities commissioned by the county government as shown in Figure 3 (Liu et al, 2005;Luo, 2006;Wu et al, 2006;Ye and Qin, 2008;Guan et al, 2011;Guan et al, 2012a;Guan et al, 2012b;Guan et al, 2012c;Guan et al, 2013). The cleaning staffs are responsible for the RDW collection using hand carts from the trash containers at the residents' houses and carrying them to the local deposit stations, which are usually an open dump tank or a small room.…”

“…Then, the RDW is transported to the transfer station in town by pickup trucks or tractors. It is important to note that part of the RDW is disposed of at the town or village disposal sites, rather than the county disposal facilities, as the present RDWM system is more or less in a transition stage and as the county alone often cannot afford the operation and maintenance (O&M) cost for the RDW disposal (Ye and Qin, 2008). The percentage share for each of the administrative levels depends on the local economic development and allocation of the government revenues (Figure 4a).…”

“…Rural domestic waste management in Zhejiang Province, China. The current situation of rural domestic waste management is based on references (Guan et al, 2013;Guan et al, 2012a;Guan et al, 2012b;Guan et al, 2012c;Guan et al, 2011;Liu et al, 2005;Luo, 2006;Wu et al, 2006;Ye and Qin, 2008). The R1 to R4 indicate the recycling point of RDW.…”

Editorial

“…As people age -especially in the more prosperous village economies, the elderly, who used to "work until they dropped" (Pang et al, 2004), are now wanting to have access to income streams so they can retire (or at least quasi-retire) or have sources of funds to pay for rising health care expenses and other needs of the elderly. Migration and exposure to urban lifestyles are creating new demands for cleaner and more sanitary streets and public spaces (Ye and Qin, 2008).…”