Assessing Effects of Unit-Based Pricing on Household Waste Reduction Focusing on COVID-19 Period in Japan

This study aims to identify the effectiveness of municipal unit-based pricing (UBP) system on household waste reduction with a focus on COVID-19 period in Japan through a panel data analysis targeting 770 cities for 2013-2022. The study targets both simple unit-pricing (SUP) and two-tiered pricing (TTP) system as the UBP components. The study contributes significantly to the literature by providing new evidence because the previous studies have never targeted the COVID-19 period in assessing the UBP. The main findings are: first, the SUP was still effective enough to reduce household waste even during COVID-19 period though the SUP effectiveness was slightly offset due to the pandemic environments; second, the TTP worked well to restrain household waste under COVID-19 period, when people became cautious about their excessive waste volumes beyond the TTP criteria. The policy implication is a further need to expand municipal adoptions of the UBP system for household waste reduction.