Evolution of community residents’ waste classification behavior based on multi-agent simulation

ABSTRACT

Municipal domestic waste (MDW) management is essential to maintain ecological security. Waste classification is seen as a solution to the urban waste dilemma. However, very few residents in China are currently involved in waste classification. Based on the public goods theory and the hypothesis of rational behavior, with the aid of GIS, this paper develops a multi-agent model to simulate the features and evolution of residents’ waste classification behavior in the context of community. By comparing the percentage of those who participate in waste classification in different scenarios, various factors that may influence residents’ waste classification behavior are analyzed. The simulation results show that the improvement of convenience facilities and the promotion of awareness-raising activities help enhancing residents’ waste classification behavior. An increase in rewards and penalties by the government will promote residents’ waste classification behavior, though this promotion is not significant. Adherent enforcers can provide a continuous incentive for residential waste classification behavior. This study provides evidence for the government and communities to develop waste classification policies and motivate residents to participate in waste classification.

Implications: Municipal waste seriously restricts the survival and development of cities, and waste disposal has become a problem that plagues government managers in various countries. Waste classification is considered to be an effective way to solve the municipal waste dilemma, but currently China faces the dilemma of low residents’ participation in waste classification. Through multi-agent modeling, the interaction and decision-making of urban residents in the process of waste classification are simulated, and introduce GIS to truly restore the daily classification scenes of residents. Explore the dynamic evolution of urban residents’ classification behavior and the change of residents’ waste classification rate under different situations to find more effective ways to improve the participation rate of residents in waste classification and give targeted and practical countermeasure suggestions. It provides decision-making reference for the formulation of governmental waste classification policies and the design of community behavior programs, and to contribute to the sustainable development of society.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Jiajia Xia, Tianyu Wan for their helpful suggestions and technology support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Xingxing Liu, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Social Science Foundation of China [Grant Nos. 16ZDA045].

Notes on contributors

Qing Yang

Qing Yang is a leading professor in the discipline of Technology Economics and Management at Wuhan University of Technology, where he has been engaged in crisis management complex system, decision support system, risk analysis and policy evaluation, etc.

Mengyuan Luo

Mengyuan Luo is a master student at the School of Safety Science and Emergency Management of Wuhan University of Technology. Her research direction is intelligent management of complex systems.

Xingxing Liu

Xingxing Liu is an associate professor in Wuhan University of Technology. His current research interests include computational experiments, space analysis and safety science.