Effect of Neighborhood Towns on Consensus Building for Waste Charge—Based on Questionnaire Survey to Aizu-misato Town Residents—

Abstract

The amount of municipal waste discharged per person per day has been declining overall in Japan, but this trend is not always observed in some local governments, where charging for waste is expected. One of the challenges is how to obtain approval for the waste charge from the residents. Previous research on consensus building for a waste charge was primarily conducted around 2000, when the waste charge was initiated. However, a waste charge has been implemented by many local governments, and the impact of this neighborhood waste charge on the consensus building has not been sufficiently considered.

We empirically examined the effect of neighborhood towns on a consensus building for the waste charge. This study piloted to examine the case of the municipality of Aizu-misato Town in Fukushima Prefecture, through conducting a questionnaire survey on waste to the residents and analyzing the responses. Our results indicate that the information on the waste charge implementation by the neighborhood town would be effective for the approval on the waste charge.