Abstract: Based on the practical needs of comprehensively establishment of the charge system of municipal solid waste （MSW） treatment in China， basic research such as the investigation of residents’ willingness to pay （WTP） in Shanghai was carried out. The results showed that waste treatment charges were mostly paid as you throw in foreign countries， while it was dominated by flat rate charging or water consumption coefficient in China. More than 60% of the respondents in this study paid close attention to the waste classification work， and thought that the residents’ dumping of waste played important role. In addition， the respondents’ WTP for the MSW treatment was 18.2 RMB per month per household， which was positively correlated with income and domiciliary register， and negatively correlated with age. Combined with the feasibility of current charging theory， policy and operation， relevant countermeasures and suggestions for establishing residents’ MSW charges in Shanghai were proposed. It may be difficult to achieve a satisfied effect of MSW source reduction only by adopting the flat rate charging. While the water consumption coefficient method was easy to implement， which could ensure a higher charge rate and lower charge cost， thus had certain operability. The implementation of pay as throw not only required investment in upgrading supporting equipment， but also may bring negative effects to the development of waste classification. The research results could provide basic data and decision-making reference to formally establishing residents’ MSW charges in Shanghai， which could conducive to further improve the whole process classification system of MSW.

Key words: municipal solid waste, water consumption coefficient method, pay as you throw, willingness to pay