BMF CP127: Household Characteristics, Perceived Necessity of Local Waste Treatment Solution, and Waste Sorting Practice in Rural Vietnam

Van Quy Khuc

VNU University of Economics and Business, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam

May 1, 2026

“Hearing these words, the Sparrows’ eyes brighten. Seeing how Sham-bird is fat and well-off, they immediately believe in him.

Since then, the whole Sparrow family would fly into the village early in the morning. Food is indeed readily available everywhere, from the veranda, and kitchen, to the yard and garden. They even find a big garbage pile of discarded food.”

In “Food”; Wild Wise Weird (2024)

1. Project description

1.1. Main objectives

The current study is conducted to examine the following research questions:

• How are the household characteristics associated with the perceived necessity of solving local waste problems?
• How are the household characteristics associated with the household waste sorting practice?
• Does the perceived necessity of solving local waste problems mediate the relationships between household characteristics and waste sorting practice?

The findings are expected to inform and refine the implementation of Vietnam’s revised Law on Environmental Protection (2020), particularly with respect to operationalizing the “polluter pays” principle, promoting waste classification at the source, and designing socially acceptable environmental financing mechanisms [1,2]. In addition, they may contribute to fostering an eco-surplus mindset that promotes harmonious alignment with the surrounding natural environment within the community [3,4].

1.2. Materials

The Granular Interaction Thinking Theory (GITT) will be employed for the conceptual development of this study, while the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics will be utilized for statistical analysis [4,5]. The dataset comprises responses from 487 households across 11 communes and wards in Hai Phong City, Vietnam [1]. Statistical analyses will be conducted using the bayesvl R package, which utilizes the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm for estimation [6]. Code and data of the study will be sent along with the task assignment.

1.3. Main findings

Preliminary analyses suggest that the educational level of the household head is positively associated with the perceived necessity of addressing local waste treatment issues. The number of household members is also positively associated with this perceived necessity; however, this relationship is negatively moderated by the proportion of female members within the household.



Figure 1: Estimated posterior results

2. Collaboration procedure

Portal users should follow these steps to register to participate in this research project:

1. Create an account on the website (preferably using an institution email).
2. Comment your name, affiliation, and your desired role in the project below this post.
3. Patiently wait for the formal agreement on the project from the AISDL mentor.

If you have further inquiries, please contact us at aisdl_team@mindsponge.info

If you have been invited to join the project by an AISDL member, you are still encouraged to follow the above formal steps.

All the resources for conducting and writing the research manuscript will be distributed upon project participation.

Mentor for this project: Van Quy Khuc.

Other members who have joined this project: Minh-Hoang Nguyen, Quan-Hoang Vuong.

The research project strictly adheres to scientific integrity standards, including authorship rights and obligations, without incurring an economic burden at participants’ expenses.

This project is NOT open for registration.

References

[1] Khuc VQ, et al. (2023). Household-level strategies to tackle plastic waste pollution in a transitional country. Urban Science, 7(1), 20. https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci7010020

[2] Khuc VQ, et al. (2026). Estimating households’ willingness-to-pay for improved waste treatment service in Vietnam. Sustainability, 18(8), 4102. https://doi.org/10.3390/su18084102

[3] Khuc VQ. (2026). Predictors of survival. https://doi.org/10.17613/xqmrc-a0q44

[4] Nguyen MH. (2026). Ayn Rand and Kingfisher on zero-carbon bombs and a sustainable future. Visions for Sustainability. In Press.

[5] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH, La VP. (2022). The mindsponge and BMF analytics for innovative thinking in social sciences and humanities. Walter de Gruyter GmbH. https://books.google.com/books?id=EGeEEAAAQBAJ

[6] Nguyen MH, Ho MT. (2026). The absurdist approach to unveiling possible paradoxical thinking for innovative socio-psychological research. MethodsX, 16, 103910. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2026.103910

[7] Vuong QH, La VP. (2019). bayesvl package for Bayesian statistical analyses in R. http://books.google.com/books/about?id=uq2lEQAAQBAJ

[8] Vuong QH. (2024). Wild Wise Weird. https://books.google.com/books?id=C5dDEQAAQBAJ