Drawing on a dataset covering a large number of randomly sampled villages across China,
the present paper examines the issue of residential solid waste management service provision
in rural China. Using a logistic model we evaluate the impacts of different factors on service
provision at the village level with regard to residential solid waste disposal. These factors
include the environmental pressures caused by residential solid waste generation, the financial
capacity of the Villagers’ Committee, village elections and the individual characteristics of
village heads. We find that living density, village per capita income, the ratio of irrigated
land, and the per capita profit submitted by village enterprises to the Villagers’ Committee
all have positive impacts on service provision. Moreover, village heads who are popularly
elected by villagers are more likely to provide services that satisfy voters’ demands.