Household cooperation in waste management : initial conditions and intervention

Abstract

The need to divert municipal solid waste away from landfill is an important policy goal in many countries, and the possibility that households cooperate in this endeavor, an oft pursued solution. There is a vast body of theoretical and empirical work which provides insights on the kind of household conditions and intervention that may stimulate such cooperation. This paper reviews the relevant literature in environmental and behavioural economics and synthesises it around two themes: 1. initial conditions conducive to cooperation (including household motives and constraints and, by association, the demographics of cooperative households) and 2. intervention that may stimulate (or suppress) cooperation. Three distinct attributes of intervention are examined in particular detail, namely convenience, charges and communication. The paper concludes by providing a succinct set of cues for policy-makers and scheme-operators wishing to stimulate household cooperation in waste management, and by identifying gaps in the literature which merit further research.