Inconvenience cost of waste disposal behavior in South Korea

•Estimates inconvenience costs associated with waste sorting behavior.•Adopts a latent class logit model to calculate inconvenience costs•Inconvenience cost of hygiene of disposal spot is higher than that for sorting.•Older people report lower inconvenience costs than do younger ones.•Some groups prefer manual sorting to automated sorting service for food waste.

Pro-environmental activities, such as waste sorting, are considered inconveniencing; the higher the inconvenience, the more difficult it becomes to encourage active public participation. This study defines waste sorting behavior considering certain attributes and estimates the inconvenience costs associated with each attribute. The definition also considers how and when waste is disposed of as well as the hygiene of a disposal spot. We apply a conjoint analysis for data collection and latent class logit model to calculate the inconvenience costs. The model incorporates consumers' heterogeneity as a finite number of homogenous groups. The results show that the inconvenience cost for the hygiene of the disposal spot is generally higher than that of sorting itself; this tendency is strongest among young women. Moreover, older people report lower inconvenience costs than do younger ones. Further, some groups prefer manual sorting to an automated sorting service for food waste. Our findings offer policy implications considering such inconvenience costs.