Evaluating Willingness to Pay for E-Waste Recycling in Vietnam

Abstract

E-waste is generating rapidly, potentially causing risks to the environment and public health. Formal collection and recycling are necessary to reduce risk and exploit the value of e-waste. This study was conducted to assess factors affecting the willingness to hand over (WTH) and the willingness to pay (WTP) for the recycling e-waste cost of young consumers in Vietnam. The methods of descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and ANOVA were used to analyze the data of 403 interviewed students. The research results show that a high percentage of students were willing to hand over and willing to pay the cost of recycling. According to the results of the regression analysis, WTH was mainly influenced by the attitude towards recycling. Students highly assessed the importance of environmental considerations, recycling costs, convenience, and information security. Meanwhile, students seriously lack knowledge about policies, legal regulations, and information about e-waste collection and treatment programs. This knowledge factor had a major impact on students' willingness to pay for recycling costs. This study makes a meaningful contribution to the scarce data source on electronic waste in Vietnam. Dissemination of information and establishment of e-waste collection points are essential solutions that need to be taken to promote participation in e-waste recycling. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2023-09-10-03 Full Text: PDF