Evaluating citizens’ willingness to participate in hypothetical scenarios towards sustainable plastic waste management

Plastic waste (PW) is a global environmental problem that creates a formidable challenge for managers tasked with finding the optimal solution to the ocean’s plastic pollution. Vietnam has been listed among the top five countries responsible for discharging large amounts of PW into the oceans without appropriate management and treatment. Therefore, research that focuses on understanding citizens’ preferences towards sustainable PW management (PWM) in Vietnam is crucial, as such information will help to achieve the goal of PW reduction. This study applied a choice experiment to evaluate the effects on citizens’ preferences for the reduction of plastic under different levels of environmental awareness, estimating the citizens’ preference heterogeneity for a PWM program and developing PWM scenarios based on the results of the empirical analysis. The results indicate that multi-stakeholder cooperation, a policy on banning single-use plastics, the adoption of green life and zero-waste events, the establishment of waste collection stations, and the introduction of eco-friendly alternatives are among the most effective factors influencing PWM. It is also found that the following characteristics affect the citizens’ preferences for PWM program, namely: 1) citizens' awareness of the impact of plastics on the environment, 2) citizens’ education level, and 3) citizens' living areas. Furthermore, this study suggests four PWM scenarios, which were built from the positive-preference attributes, for application in decision-making in countries without adequate PWM policies and infrastructure. These outcomes are expected to be a useful reference for developing policy and management strategies in the near future, which can mitigate the PW pollution.