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Abstract
Incineration plants and derelict industrial sites can have a number of adverse effects on the local environment and social welfare, including diminution of property values. Although many incineration plants exist in China, there has been relatively little research done to estimate the negative externality affects there. In this paper, we examine the effects of the Nengda municipal incineration plant in Hangzhou city on residential property values. We employ a hedonic pricing model to examine the sales of over 500 residential condominium units in over 20 multifamily buildings within ten kilometers of the incineration plants over a one-year-period including 2014. The results show that proximate properties show decreases in initial listing price of up to 25.9%, declining monotonically until the effect is gone at three kilometers from the incinerator. These results are comparable to similar situations in the United States and Canada.
The garbage crisis in Chinese cities captures close attention, as substantial urban growth has forced local municipal authorities to struggle with problems such as a sharp increase in solid waste, inefficient methods of garbage treatment, and various pollution problems. Thus, incineration is widely used to reduce the volume of municipal solid waste, potentially infectious medical waste, and to reduce the potential toxicity and volume of hazardous chemical and biological waste. China reached a garbage incineration rate of 19.6% by the end of the Eleventh five-year plan period (2006-2010), and implemented garbage incinerator projects at a faster rate in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan. China expects to achieve the targeted waste incineration rate of 35% nationwide and 48% in the development eastern regions by the end of this period in 2015 (Chinese Research Perspectives, 2013).
Whether incineration is an appropriate means of managing such waste is the subject of much debate all over the world. A major aspect of the debate is the potential risk to human health that might result from the emission of pollutants generated by the incineration process, as some of those pollutants have been found to cause adverse health effects (Waste Incineration and Public Health, 2000). One of the biggest challenges in siting incineration plants is resistance from local communities. Citizen groups argue that incineration is associated with declining property values, and visual disamenities and smell. A broad range of...