A Dissertation Submitted in Partial/Fulfillment of the requirements for the
Degree of Master of Science in Project Planning and Management (MPPM) of
Mzumbe University
This study investigated household willingness to pay (WTP) for improved solid
waste management (SWM) services in Njombe Town Council, Njombe region in
Tanzania. In Njombe TC, the rapidly increase in solid waste production ultimately
creates a critical issue to SWM authorities in the council. Using cross-sectional data
obtained from 110 households in 26 streets of Njombe TC, the study examined the
household’s participation, their attitudes towards SWM action and their WTP for
improved SWM services. The study is centred on the threshold decision-making and
utility theories. To elicit WTP, open-ended contingent valuation method (CVM)
was employed. To determine factors influencing households WTP and maximum
WTP value for improved SWM services Probit and Tobit regression models were
used respectively. The results showed that 77.3% of respondents were ready to pay
for improved SWM service whereas 57.3% were paying the waste collection fee in
place. The Probit model shows that, age, level of education, income, time spent
walking to the disposal site, household satisfaction on the current SWM services,
household location and trust to the government on SWM services provision have
significant effects on the WTP, while the MWTP value was influenced by level of
education, income, satisfaction, location and time spent walking to the disposal site.
Further, the result showed that the mean WTP value is TZS 1581.82 per household
per month which is higher than the current garbage fee of TZS 1000 charged by the
Town council. So, there is a chance of increasing garbage fee between TZS 1000
and TZS 1581.82. However, with other factors, the location of households should be
taken into consideration while adding the charges. The mean WTP value may be a
guide to Njombe TC authorities in determining appropriate garbage fee. It is further
recommended that public awareness and private sector involvement in waste
collection services in the council should be highly encouraged.