Replication Data for: "Reducing plastic pollution: Tourists' willingness to pay for bottle deposits in high mountain tourist areas

Worldwide use of plastic has created a staggering waste problem that extends across developed and developing states. Larger plastics disintegrate into micro and nano-size particles and flow into water bodies, altering ecosystem and potentially harming public health. Plastic water bottles left by tourists are a major source of solid waste seen in alpine regions. They represent a negative externality, as the cost of pollution is borne by society rather than the individuals who create it. Remedying pollution problems creates costs for those taking action while generating diffuse benefits for society as a whole. In either case, markets often fail to produce socially optimal outcomes. While externality and free rider problems are common, particularly with environmental goods, in high mountain areas of developing nations, adverse weather, high altitudes, lack of infrastructure, and low government capacity combine to make solving them challenging. We have conducted tourist surveys in 2022 and 2023 (N=335) in the Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal to measure tourists’ willingness to pay for plastic bottle deposits. Bottle deposit systems can be used to incentivize both bottle users and those who find bottles along trekking routes to return the waste to collection centers in order to collect refundable deposits.