What Affects Chinese Households’ Behavior in Sorting Solid Waste? A Case Study from Shanghai, Shenyang, and Chengdu

The main aim of this study was to examine residents’ environmental behavior in sorting solid household waste, and to identify the integrative factors that contribute to their waste-separation cooperation and other related pro-environmental behaviors. This was achieved based on a questionnaire survey in Shenyang, Chengdu, and Shanghai. Methodologically, we applied a discrete choice model to examine whether individuals’ garbage sorting behaviors differ based on their characteristics, social attributes, residential circumstances, and environmental awareness, and whether these factors are correlated with individuals’ receptiveness to a refuse charge system, or to policies requiring garbage sorting. We further examined whether individuals’ garbage sorting behavior, their receptiveness to fee-based waste collection, and their receptiveness to policies requiring garbage sorting differ across areas. In this particular survey, we introduced a 16 item scale of pro-environmental behavior and a nine item scale of altruism to ascertain the ways in which internal motivational factors affect people’s environmentally conscious voluntary behavior. Overall, the present work is expected to contribute to an important understanding of the motivational forces and incentives behind human pro-environmental behavior and action. It also brings relevance to the analysis of moral solidarity in relation to the household waste disposal problems currently confronting us today.