Effects Of Policy Instruments And Perceived Value On Farmers’ Home Waste Management

Problems of waste disposal and pollution are causing ecological deterioration in rural areas.Continued waste pollution not only affects the development of rural economy and agriculture,but also hinders the construction of a beautiful countryside.The main waste treatment methods in rural areas are landfills and incineration.Large amounts of unclassified and improperly disposed waste have spoiled the countryside,increased the possibility of disease transmission and even threatened the daily life and health of rural people.There remains a large gap between the performance of waste treatment in rural areas and the realization of the strategic objectives of Rural Revitalization and farmers’ expectations for a better life.Environmental problems are still the prominent concern in the comprehensive development of rural areas.The possible reasons for this are,on the one hand,as is typical in the governance of public goods,the non-competitive and non-exclusive nature of public goods easily leads to free riding behaviours among individuals participating in waste treatment.The government provides public goods and services through standardized tax revenue and establishes a standardized system to restrain individuals’ waste treatment behaviour.However,the urban-rural divide leads to weak infrastructure for rural waste treatment and low waste-treatment capacity,which aggravates the gap between urban and rural waste treatment standards.On the other hand,based on the Environmental Kuznets curve,the level of rural economic development is still in its early stages.To pursue income improvement,farmers give up preservation of the environment,which results in the continuous environmental deterioration.According to the theory of New Institution Economics,institutions are social rules built to control human interactions.Farmers’ waste treatment behaviour is a rational choice based on maximizing individual utility.The government thus internalizes the external social cost or income to the individuals’ marginal cost(benefit),which can fundamentally solve the problem of externality problem for public goods,and maximize utility through collective action,thus achieving successful waste treatment.This paper constructed a research framework for the perceived value of individual factors,policy instruments,government factors and household waste treatment behaviour based on the theories of planned behaviour,value-belief-norm,utility and motivation.Data from 672 households were collected to measure the perceived value and effects of the policy instrument in the pilot areas of rural domestic waste classification and resource utilization in Shaanxi Province,which was selected by the Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development in 2017.The data were analysed to assess the current situation of rural waste treatment in Shaanxi Province,as well as regional differences.Using ordered logistics and binary Probit models,this paper examines the impact of perceived value and policy instruments on farmers’ willingness to sort waste,to pay and to choose a particular mode of waste sorting.The different influences of interaction items of perceived value and policy instruments affecting these three types of willingness were then tested.The PSM model was applied to explore the effect of garbage classification on the subjective and objective quality of waste treatment.The mediating effect of waste-sorting behaviours on perceived value and effective waste treatment was investigated using a mediating effect model,then the value of the mediation effect was tested by bootstrap.Finally,this paper puts forward policy proposals to enhance farmers’ perceived income,reduce the perceived cost and improve farmer’ waste-sorting behaviours from the perspective of support via tools,incentives and information.The main conclusions are as follows.Ⅰ)So far,the waste classification modes adopted in the pilot areas were not unified.Generally,farmers had strong willingness to sort,and low frequency of sorting behaviour,which is a common contradictory phenomenon between willingness and actions.Farmers preferred to choose simpler waste classification modes.There was a significant difference in the waste-sorting behaviour between the pilot and the non-pilot areas.Farmers’ spiritual and material benefits based on the perceived value of waste classification were similar,but the material and non-material costs differed.There were significant differences in the general and sub-index of perceived value between the pilot and non-pilot areas.The policy instrument level was significantly different between the pilot and non-pilot areas,but there were no significant differences in the three pilot counties.Ⅱ)The perceived value and the policy instrument significantly affected farmers’ willingness to engage in waste treatment.The results indicate that farmers’ perceived spiritual benefit could improve their willingness to sort waste.However,the perceived non-material and material costs decreased willingness to waste sort.Tool support promoted the willingness to sort,while incentives hindered it.The perceived spiritual and material benefits of the perceived value had a positive impact on farmers’ willingness to pay for waste classification,while the non-material and material costs had a negative impact on their willingness to pay.Tool support had a positive effect on farmers’ willingness to pay,while incentives had a negative effect.The promotion of perceived spiritual benefit helped farmers to choose more complex classification modes.However,the increase in the perceived cost led farmers to choose a simpler mode.The promotion of tool support was conducive to farmers’ choice of more complex classification modes,while incentive support led to farmers’ preference for simpler modes.Ⅲ)Policy instruments had a positive moderating effect on the relationship between perceived value and household willingness to sort.Specifically,information support had a positive moderation effect on the relationship of spiritual benefits affecting willingness to sort waste.Incentive support had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between non-material cost and willingness to sort,with material cost affecting willingness to sort as well.Tool support had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between non-material cost and household willingness to sort waste.Incentive support had a negative moderating effect on the relationship between spiritual benefit and households’ willingness to pay for garbage classification.Incentive support also had a significant moderating effect on the negative relationship between non-material cost and household willingness to pay.Tool support had a positive moderating effect on the relationship between material benefit and households’ willingness to pay for garbage classification.Tool support had a moderating effect on the negative relationship between nom-material cost and households’ willingness to pay,as well as material cost and willingness to pay.Incentive support had a negative moderating effect on the relationship between spiritual benefits and farmers’ choice of waste classification mode,as well as having a moderating effect on the negative relationship between material cost and choice of waste classification mode.Tool support could promote the impact of spiritual income on selection of waste classification mode and hinder the negative impact of material cost on mode selection.Ⅳ)The perceived value and policy instrument significantly affected the decision-making for household waste treatment.The spiritual benefits,non-material costs and material costs of the perceived value were the main value factors affecting farmers’ waste classification behaviour.Incentive and tool support were the main factors in the policy instrument affecting sorting behaviour.The results of cluster regression showed that spiritual benefit and the material cost of the perceived value influenced the waste-sorting behaviour of farmers with a high-level income,while material and non-material costs were the main value factors affecting the waste-sorting behaviour of farmers with high-level income.There are different influence paths for the policy instrument’s information and incentive support on classification behaviour of farmers in the high-and low-income groups.Spiritual income,material income,non-material cost and material cost were the influencing factors for household garbage classification behaviour in the pilot area from the perspective of perceived value.There were different influence paths for the policy instrument’s information and tool support on the waste classification behaviour of farmers both within and outside the pilot area.Ⅴ)With improvements in the policy instrument,farmers with high perceived value are more likely to participate in garbage classification.Information support could decrease the negative effect of material costs on household waste classification behaviour.Incentive support positively affected the relationship between spiritual benefits and material costs for waste-sorting behaviours.Tool support had a positive moderating effect on the relationship between spiritual benefits and household waste classification behaviour.Ⅵ)The farmers’ waste classification behaviours had a significant positive impact on their welfare level,and the promotion effect of classification behaviours on objective welfare was greater than for subjective welfare.In addition,classification behaviours partially mediated the relationship between farmers’ perceived value and welfare,and the mediating effect of perceived value on objective welfare was greater than on subjective welfare.The classification behaviours partially mediated the relationship between policy instrument value and welfare,and the mediating effect of the policy instrument on objective welfare was greater than on subjective welfare.