AKSU Journal of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development

HOUSEHOLDS’ WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR REGULATED KITCHEN WASTE DISPOSAL SYSTEM IN OWERRI, IMO STATE, NIGERIA

Author:  Nwachukwu, A. C., Igwe, K. C and Nnabuihe, K. I.

Abstract
The study examined households’ willingness to pay for regulated kitchen waste disposal system in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 270 households for the study. Data collected with the use of questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the study reveals that the existing kitchen waste disposal practices in the area were open dumping, burning, private waste collector, drain disposal, and composting. The frequency of kitchen wastes disposal were; Once a week (38.5%), Twice a week (31.9%), Daily (21.5%) and Once in two weeks (8.1%) while kitchen wastes disposal methods includes hand carrying (50.7%), private vehicle (21.1%), garbage collector (14.1%), wheelbarrow/bicycle (12.6%), and pulling/dragging on the ground (1.5%). The result of the logistic regression model showed that the explanatory power of the specified variables as indicated by the pseudo R2 value of (0.7585) was relatively high and seems good. Household’s willingness to pay for regulated kitchen waste disposal was influenced by gender, household size, education level, occupation, monthly income, year of residence, and mobility status. Additionally, the use of regulated kitchen waste disposal system were constrained by infrastructural (inadequate collection points (Mean = 1.44), inadequate equipment (mean = 1.51), distance to refuse dump site (mean = 1.54)) and institutional factors (weak strategic planning (mean = 1.52), weak enforcement (mean = 1.52), unclear government policies (mean = 1.52), poor supervision and skills (mean = 1.53)), identified through low mean scores indicating strong respondent agreement. Similarly, Social factor (Poor Public Participation (Mean = 1.50)) was also rated very high significance barrier among others. Hence, the study concludes that the residents in Owerri are willing to pay for regulated households’ kitchen waste disposal methods. Based on the findings and their implications, the study among others recommended that local governments should invest in improving operational capacity, including the procurement of waste collection vehicles, provision of standardized waste bins, and establishment of functional transfer stations in the area.