Household willingness to pay for improved solid waste management in Ibadan metropolis, Oyo state, Nigeria.

Solid waste management is important in our society because of the welfare gains that accrue from it to the household and to the society at large and the dangers that are associated with dirty environment. This research work examined the households' willingness to pay for improved solid waste management and the associated problems they face in Ibadan metropolis. Data were collected from randomly sampled 150 households' head with the aid of a well structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, conditional logit model, and logit model. The average age of the household's head was 39.8 years. Majority (67.76 percent) of the households' heads were males. The households' heads were found to be professionals (26.32%) , artisans (25.66%), traders (11.84%), civil servants (28.95%) and few (7.24 percent) were found to be unemployed. Average monthly income of the households' head was N45, 701.32. Two methods of solid waste collection were identified; these were collection by government and private organizations. Similarly, methods of households' solid waste disposal adopted were open dumps, burning, common containers provided by local authorities and rivers. The dichotomous contingent valuation technique was used to elicit the willingness to pay of the households' heads for improved solid waste management in the study area. Estimated mean willingness to pay of the households' head for prompt collection of waste was 44317, private collector was 44464, waste treatment was N195, waste sorting and incineration is l2113 and l2428.Willingness to pay of the households' head for improved solid waste management were influenced by age, gender, dependency ratio, monthly income, household size, educational level, asset index, and social capital of the households' head. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that households should find ways of mobilizing their family labour through establishment of less capital intensive small scale business in order to improve their income and hence their purchasing power and that they should sort their waste to generate some recyclable items that can be sold to generate more income. It was also recommended that as a result of benefits that accrue to households from improved solid waste management, households should demand for payment and improvement in the management of their solid waste as this will bring about tremendous benefits for them.