Financial inclusion and households’ choice of solid waste disposal in Ghana

BACKGROUND: As the amount of solid waste generated by households in Ghana continues to grow, policy makers are preoccupied with finding better means of managing these solid wastes. To this end, a number of studies have been conducted on the factors that determine the choice of solid waste disposal method among households in Ghana. Notwithstanding, while financial inclusion is deemed as an effective tool for improved solid waste management, none of these studies paid attention to it. This study therefore, investigates the effect of financial inclusion on the choice of solid waste disposal method among households in Ghana. METHODS: The study uses data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey round 7 (GLSS7). The multinomial probit regression is used as the empirical estimation technique. RESULTS: Our results show that financial inclusion increases the likelihood of households opting for the collection method of solid waste disposal relative to burning, public dumping and indiscriminate disposal of solid waste. CONCLUSION: Financial inclusion enables households to opt for a healthy solid waste disposal method (collection method), hence, in policy makers’ attempts to improve solid waste disposal, paying attention to financial inclusion can be a very useful strategy.