Investigating the Relationship between Public Satisfaction and Public Environmental Participation during Government Treatment of Urban Malodorous Black River in China

The tripartite evolutionary game of enterprises' green production strategy with government supervision and people participation

Government supervision and people participation play vital roles in enterprises' green production strategy, but few studies have considered the strategy choices behind government supervision and people's participation. This study contended that whether an enterprise adopts the green production strategy is influenced not only by its responsible attitude facing social responsibility but also by the following two factors, the intensity of government supervision and whether people choose to participate in supervision or not when facing the enterprise adopting the green production strategy or not. We constructed a tripartite evolutionary game model to explore the behavioral evolution rules and evolutionary stability strategies of government supervision, people participation, and enterprises' green production. Then we employed numerical simulation to analyze how various factors influence the strategy selection of the government, people, and enterprises. The results show that if the utility values of government supervision and people participation are greater than 0, the enterprises will adopt the green production strategy. The system stability is affected by a synergistic relationship between participation cost, reputation benefit, and government subsidies, and an incremental relationship between enterprises' green production benefit, government subsidies, people's reported bonus, and enterprises' green production cost. This study provides a new theoretical perspective for research on government supervision, people participation, and enterprises' green production strategy, and the results provide important references for improving the enterprises' green production and urban environmental management.

Residents' Willingness to Pay for Water Pollution Treatment and Its Influencing Factors: a Case Study of Taihu Lake Basin

This study designs a double-bounded dichotomous questionnaire, and uses the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to estimate residents' willingness to pay(WTP) for water pollution control along the Taihu Lake Basin. The results of the returned questionnaire show that 82.76% of the residents are willing to pay. CVM estimation results show that the average WTP of residents for water pollution control is 138.86 yuan/year. In addition, the influencing factors of WTP are explored using a Logistic regression model, and the heterogeneity of WTP among residents of different genders is analyzed. The study found that: (1) The younger the residents, the higher their WTP; (2) The higher the income, the higher the residents' WTP for water pollution control; (3) Residents with higher educational level are more willing to pay; (4) The higher the degree of residents' understanding of water pollution control policies, the higher the WTP; (5) The higher the degree of residents' recognition of pro-environmental behavior, the higher the WTP; (6) Male residents' WTP is mainly affected by cognitive factors such as their understanding of governance policies and their approval of pro-environmental behaviors, while female residents' WTP is mainly affected by personal attributes, such as age, income, and the number of household laborers. Furthermore, this study proposes targeted measures to improve residents' WTP from three aspects: the government enriches the channels for residents to participate in water pollution control, the social media enriches the popularization of water environment knowledge, and the school strengthens the education of environmental protection knowledge, considering the differences in residents' characteristics. Therefore, this study can provide a theoretical reference and decision-making basis for encouraging residents to participate in water pollution control, promote the construction of a beautiful watershed, and provide a reference for other basins.

Hydrogen Sulphide Sequestration with Metallic Ions in Acidic Media Based on Chitosan/sEPDM/Polypropylene Composites Hollow Fiber Membranes System

This paper presents the preparation and characterization of composite membranes based on chitosan (Chi), sulfonated ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer (sEPDM), and polypropylene (PPy), and designed to capture hydrogen sulfide. The Chi/sEPDM/PPy composite membranes were prepared through controlled evaporation of a toluene dispersion layer of Chi:sEPDM 1;1, w/w, deposited by immersion and under a slight vacuum (100 mmHg) on a PPy hollow fiber support. The composite membranes were characterized morphologically, structurally, and thermally, but also from the point of view of their performance in the process of hydrogen sulfide sequestration in an acidic media solution with metallic ion content (Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺, Pb²⁺, and/or Zn²⁺). The operational parameters of the pertraction were the pH, pM, matrix gas flow rate, and composition. The results of pertraction from synthetic gases mixture (nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide) indicated an efficient removal of hydrogen sulfide through the prepared composite membranes, as well as its immobilization as sulfides. The sequestration and the recuperative separation, as sulfides from an acid medium, of the hydrogen sulfide reached up to 96%, decreasing in the order: CuS > PbS > CdS > ZnS.

Determinants of Satisfaction with Solid Waste Management Services: A Central-Local Comparison in China

The Chinese central government proclaimed a mandatory or demonstration waste separation policy in some cities or counties to manage the increasing amounts of generated waste since 2017. Many cities and regions have also begun to build waste separation management systems and institutions, and community managers have created waste management rules and provided separation management services under the guidance of local government. However, little is known about how these policies or services have performed and the degree of residents’ satisfaction, especially regarding the central government. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the consequence of these policies using residents’ community and national satisfaction levels with solid waste management services (SWMS) and their determinants. An online survey in 2021 showed that the overall satisfaction levels of communities and national SWMS are similar, but the differences between rural and urban regions are significant. Residents’ satisfaction with community SWMS in urban regions was higher than national satisfaction, and the results in rural regions was contrary. The determinants of community and national satisfaction were also different and varied by region. To improve satisfaction, the government need to standardize basic management systems in different types of regions, gradually improve management services and institutions in rural areas and non-pilot cities and provide special services or facilities for less healthy residents.