Determinants of improper versus proper waste disposal practices by households: Evidence from greater Cairo’s urban slums

Abstract

With ambitious plans to enhance municipal solid waste management as part of Egypt’s Vision 2030 plan, it becomes increasingly important for policymakers to consider all relevant stakeholders. No study to date evaluates the determinants of waste disposal practices across Egyptian households, let alone those in urban slums. Accordingly, this study investigates the determinants of household solid waste disposal practices in the urban slums of Greater Cairo using data from the Survey of Young People in Informal Urban Areas of Greater Cairo (SYPE-IGC) in 2016. We use a multinomial logistic regression to determine the probability of a household adopting various disposal practices over strictly improper ones, given certain demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. The main results indicate that household wealth, the educational attainment of its head, and the availability of waste services are positively associated with proper household disposal practices. The results from the subsamples reiterate the uneven distribution of waste services.