Soli~ Waste Management in Ghana: Willingness-to-Pay for Improved Services.

Abstract

Recent rapid urbanization and changing lifestyles have created serious environmental problems in most cities in the developing world. especially in the area of solid waste management and.financing. This sludy analyzes the factors that influence households' willingness-to-pay for improved solid waste management. Using a stratified random sampling lechnique, a total of 920 households were selectedfor the study and then a logil modelhased contingent valuation method was employed to estimate their willingness-to-pay for improved service. The results indicaled thal all the variables but the household size had significanl influence on respondents' willingness to pay. It also revealed a potentially large market segment of households in the low-income areas prepared to pay forr improved service which is yet to be tapped into. The study opined that with proper policies, the exploitation of this potential. market can help disburden the authorities total municipal budget. It thus calls for policy interventions through the use of the socio-economic characteristics to draw
comprehensive market segments for waste collection instead  of the current zoning patierns which failed to take cognizance of intra-zonal differentials.