Tiller, Kelly

December, 1997

By: Tiller, Kelly; Jakus, Paul M.; Park, William M.
Increased landfilling costs and state-mandated reductions in municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal have combined to increase interest in recycling as an MSW management option. Most benefit-cost analyses, however, focus solely on urban curbside recycling programs and/or fail to include the benefits which accrue to households from the opportunity to recycle. This study focuses on the economic feasibility of dropoff recycling in rural areas, presenting estimates of household willingness to pay (WTP) for dropoff recycling in a rural/suburban area of Tennessee. Using contingent valuation, the most conservative mean household WTP is near $4.00 per household per month.

July, 1996

By: Jakus, Paul M.; Tiller, Kelly; Park, William M.
Rising landfill costs have forced solid waste managers to consider ways to reduce the waste stream. Using survey data, models explaining the weight of recyclables generated by households are estimated for paper and glass. Results indicate that households respond to the time cost of recycling paper but not glass. The waste generation models imply total monthly willingness to pay for recycling is $5.78 per household. Waste managers may increase the weight of recycled waste stream with programs which lower perceived time costs of nonrecyclers and improve the efficiency of recyclers.