Estimating Households’ Willingness-to-Pay for Improved Waste Treatment Service in Vietnam

Waste pollution is becoming a major health issue in many developing nations. Waste-reduction options have been investigated and proposed, but environmental culture-based initiatives have not. This study explores and advances Vietnamese families’ environmental culture related to waste management, using the Culture Tower framework and a contingent valuation method coupled with a Bayesian model (CVBM). Specifically, descriptive statistics measure environmental literacy, while CVBM determines household willingness-to-pay (WTP) and estimates WTP for waste treatment services (WTP4WTS). Based on our survey of 487 households across 11 communes and wards in Hai Phong City, local waste pollution has decreased over time, although the respondents remain concerned. Over 13% of households were dissatisfied with waste treatment services (WTSs), while approximately 50% were neutral. Most respondents (79.26%) were willing to pay for improved WTSs, with an average WTP of 60,200 VND (US$2.32) per household per month. Behavioral and perceptual factors, such as the desire for improved waste services, current perceived waste pollution, and the perception that pollution has worsened, were found to significantly influence this willingness. Our study makes three major contributions. First, it develops a novel CVBM framework that links environmental culture and an economic valuation method, strengthening green economy micro-behavioral research. Second, it advances the circular economy literature by highlighting household engagement and willingness-to-pay as key drivers of sustainable waste financing and resource-loop closure. Third, it provides empirical evidence to inform and refine Vietnam’s revised Law on Environmental Protection (2020), particularly in implementing the “polluter pays” principle, promoting waste classification at the source, and designing socially acceptable environmental financing mechanisms.