Assessment of Willingness to Pay for Solid Waste Collection Services in Uganda : A Case Study of Kawempe Division

The supply of solid waste management service has always been a major environmental concern for the city of Kampala. The introduction of service charges in the area of solid waste management is getting much attention due to continuous financial shortage of the city government to provide this service at an affordable cost. The proper pricing of these services is believed to bring efficiency and sustainability in this area. Thus the current study was undertaken to examine the extent of solid waste management problem and the determinants of household’s ‟willingness to pay for improved solid waste management services in kawempe. The contingent valuation method (CVM) is used to analyze households‟ willingness to pay. A logistic regression is adopted for empirical analysis for 50 randomly selected households, descriptive results indicates that 64% of households in the study area were practicing illegal dumping, i.e., disposing solid waste in open-space, street or drainage channels, 30% paid for solid waste collection services and 70% of them were not satisfied with city council in the area of solid waste management. However majority of the households (64%) were willing to cooperate with the city council in co-financing solid waste collection activities in order to improve the deteriorating situation. The average willing to pay in terms of shillings per month was USh 3000, this amount was influenced by household income, education, age, and time spent in the area and home ownership. There is a greater chance for success in the solid waste collection services if city dwellers are constantly trained and monitored to improve their sanitation, hygiene and solid waste management practices. Lastly a socially acceptable charge should be set to avoid the free-rider problem among the benefiting households