Modeling home composting behavior toward sustainable municipal organic waste management at the source in developing countries

Home composting (HC) has become an increasingly important consideration in the framework of sustainable municipal organic waste (MOW) management in developing countries. We develop, for the first time, two HC behavior models, which include households’ decisions to participate in a HC scheme and the level of HC participation. By applying Logit and Ordered logit models, a survey of 202 respondents in rural areas of Hoi An, Vietnam, indicates that households’ decisions to get involved in a HC scheme and the level of HC participation are affected by motivational factors such as knowledge about HC, attitude toward it, and owning a garden. We then explore the differences between the influencing factors for the two models. Interestingly, while participation in the HC training program influence the decision to participate in the HC scheme, the factor appears unimportant in increasing the level of HC practice. In addition, once the HC participation decision has been made, we find that pro-environmental behavior (such as habit of reusing plastic bags and reducing wastefulness) could promote a higher level of HC practice. These findings could help policy makers in promoting HC behavior to enhance a sustainable MOW management strategy at the household level.