Heterogeneous Preferences for Community Recycling Programs

This paper examines households’ preferences for community recycling programs,which have both public and private good dimensions. The data come from a surveyconducted in Seattle, WA that elicited stated preferences for different recyclingsystems (or program changes) relative to status quo with experimental variation inthe overall community recycling rate achieved and expected household cost. Thecommunity recycling rate is interpreted as capturing the public benefits of recyclingprograms and constitutes the most common way local and national agenciesformulate waste management objectives and evaluate policy initiatives. The paperbegins with panel mixed logit estimations that uncover heterogeneous preferencesacross program type and across individuals within specific program types, and yieldthe first estimates in the literature of marginal willingness to pay for communityrecycling rate improvements...