Investigation on decision-making mechanism of residents’ household solid waste classification and recycling behaviors

Abstract Residents’ participation in classification and recycling of urban household solid waste (HSW) is a critical factor for the success of municipal solid waste management. The aim of this study is to investigate the decision-making mechanism of residents’ HSW disposal behaviors by merging the theory of planned behavior and the Attitude-Behavior-Condition theory. In this study, based on the survey data of 709 residents in Suzhou, China and structural equation modeling method, the main factors that affect residents’ HSW disposal behaviors and their degree of influence were analyzed, followed by discussion on decision-making mechanisms. The findings show that residents’ behavioral selection has been significantly related to four intrinsic subjective factors and seven external objective factors, and the combined effect of the latter ones is nearly twice of that of the former ones. Moreover, the convenient of environmental facilities and services are most effective at promoting residents’ participation in HSW classification and recycling. Specifically, the observed variables of publicity and education, accessibility to recycling facilities, accessibility to classification facilities, willingness to participation of classification and residents' environmental awareness are the five most significant factors. The impact of laws and regulations is not significant; however, this may be because that there was no mandatory laws, regulations and incentive mechanisms on HSW classification and recycling in Suzhou in this period, and there is still a big gap and room for improvement in this aspect in mainland China. Finally, the study put forward relevant policy recommendations for the comprehensive management of urban HSW classification and recycling.