The effect of the intensive margin on waste separation behavior: a discrete choice experiment

Abstract Waste separation plays a critical role in sustainable waste management, yet implementing effective programs remains challenging due to varying household participation. This paper investigates the determinants of households’ willingness to sort waste into multiple streams, focusing on the intensive margin of waste separation behavior. Our key contribution is examining how increasing the number of required sorting streams impacts the willingness to participate, providing new insights into optimal sorting complexity. We also examine the roles of distance to collection facilities and monetary incentives. We conduct a discrete choice experiment using a representative sample of 481 respondents in Israel, each faced with 15 discrete choice games. The study offers valuable insights by examining a broad spectrum of sorting streams, ranging from a single stream up to six separation categories. The results show that asking respondents to sort waste into an additional waste stream increased their willingness to sort waste by 17% (OR = 1.17) on average. This suggests households are reasonably accepting of having to sort waste into multiple streams for recycling programs. The analysis also confirms positive effects of monetary incentives and proximity to collection points on the willingness to sort waste. Providing a $14 monthly incentive increased willingness to sort waste by 2.12 times, while adding 3 min to the walking distance reduced willingness to sort waste by 55% (OR = 0.45). Overall, the findings reveal considerable support among the Israeli population for comprehensive waste sorting and recycling efforts involving several segregated material streams, especially when combined with monetary incentives and convenient collection. We recommend that municipalities examine the economic viability of designing waste sorting programs with multiple streams with the provision of financial incentives, and while ensuring convenient access to collection facilities to enhance participation and optimize recycling outcomes.