The impact of “Internet plus” enterprises on municipal solid waste classification and social welfare: An example from China

Following rapid economic development and urbanization, the classification of municipal solid waste (MSW) has become an urgent problem. This study analyzes the multiple subjects, including government, residents, and “Internet plus” MSW classification enterprises (IPMCE), and proposes a dynamic evolutionary collaborative framework for the coproduction of public goods to address the government and market failure during the supply of MSW classification as a public good. Using China as an example, this study constructs a multi-agent equilibrium simulation model to analyze this theoretical framework and investigate how to improve the related policies. The simulation results reveal that the collaborative and coproduction of public goods facilitated by IPMCE can improve classification rates and social welfare. Moreover, government subsidies for the research and development (R&D) expenditures of IPMCE are shown to further enhance this effect. In addition, the social welfare growth rate exceeds the subsidy growth rate, indicating that the subsidy has a leverage effect. Although this study has some limitations, such as the fact that the simulation model setting cannot fully reproduce the real situation, it provides policy recommendations on how to better utilize IPMCE in MSW classification as well as strategies for solving similar problems in other regions or public goods.