Effects of socio-economic factors on quantity and type of municipal solid waste

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine the socio-economic factors related to household solid waste generation and its type based on field surveys in South Delhi Municipal Corporation area in Delhi, India.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper develops a framework to systematically identify the socio-economic factors related to household waste generation and its type. The framework uses both primary and secondary data. The primary data are collected through the instruments of questionnaire and interviews, and the secondary data are collected from the literature available in public domain. Multinomial logistic models are developed. The models are analyzed using the SPSS software version 22.0.

Findings

The study reports that socio-economic parameters like monthly income of the family, number of family members, occupation, education are statistically significant predictors. Further, detailed disaggregated models reveal more insights that are not apparent otherwise, such as the number of females can also be a significant factor for a targeted socio-economic group.

Practical implications

The results can help in forecasting the resource requirement for waste collection, establishment of processing facilities and other policy planning measures for effective waste management, as summarized in the discussion.

Originality/value

A systematic process to determine resource requirement according to socio-economic (and consequently spatial) group constitute an important component of the novelty of this study. Further, it provides new insights on the role of various socio-economic factors in determining the quantity and composition of household waste, e.g. quantity and type of waste can also be affected by male and female qualification within a socio-economic category.

Citation

Kala, K., Bolia, N.B. and Sushil (2020), "Effects of socio-economic factors on quantity and type of municipal solid waste", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 877-894. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-11-2019-0244