Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management — Volume 14, Number 3—pp. 395–406 Received: 14 September 2017
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Returned for Revision: 17 November 2017
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395
Accepted: 23 January 2018
Environmental Management
Factors That Influence Public Awareness of Domestic Waste Characteristics and Management in Rural Areas Zhiyong Han,yz§ Qingqing Duan,k Yongqiang Fei,y Dan Zeng,# Guozhong Shi,*§ Haimei Li,yy and Meilun Huzz yState Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection (Chengdu University of Technology), Chengdu, China zState Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Synergetic Control and Joint Remediation for Soil & Water Pollution (Chengdu University of Technology), Chengdu, China §Biogas Institute of Ministry of Agriculture, Chengdu, China kSichuan College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Mianyang, China #Science School of Tibet University, Lhasa, China yyCollege of Humanities and Law, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, China zzSichuan Academy of Social Science, Chengdu, China
ABSTRACT Public awareness of domestic waste characteristics and management (PADWCM) is a prerequisite for a domestic waste management (DWM) plan. In this study, we considered China as a typical example of developing countries to investigate the public perception of environmental pollution (PEP), its PADWCM, and its socioeconomic factors, using questionnaires and statistical methods. The results indicated that the public PEP was mainly due to obvious environmental contamination in local villages, and the PADWCM is still inadequate in rural areas. However, 83.9% of the respondents agreed that DWM is highly necessary. The PADWCM, including the hazard, recyclability, and characteristic pollution caused by domestic waste, was learned mainly from people’s direct PEP, experiences, and repurchasing by recyclers. Education period had highly significant positive correlations and regressions with PEP and PADWCM, respectively. Additionally, education directly affected public awareness in different income and age groups. Demonstration projects had a significant positive effect on the awareness of characteristic pollution caused by domestic waste, which was readily perceived. Propaganda had a significant positive influence on the awareness of treatment necessity. Age and gender had no obvious effects on public PEP and PADWCM. Some aspects of PADWCM requiring a deep understanding became stronger as income increased; however, the PADWCM located close to poor people became weaker. Some aspects of PEP could significantly influence the awareness of characteristic pollution caused by domestic waste and awareness of treatment necessity. Therefore, improving environmental education, performing demonstration projects and effective environmental propaganda, increasing people’s income, and attracting young people to participate in DWM will be important for enhancing environmental C 2018 SETAC awareness and DWM in rural areas. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018;14:395–406. Keywords: Domestic waste characteristics
Domestic waste management
INTRODUCTION Solid waste management is a global challenge, especially in economically developing countries, due to their growing populations, lifestyle changes, rising community living standards, and increasing waste generation (Hassan et al. 2016). Many previous studies have shown that broad and sustainable public participation is the basis for successful waste management (Chung and Poon 2001; Dhokhikah et al. 2015). In particular, public awareness of waste pollution and its health effects, as well as their intentions, moral obligations, and self-identity, has important effects on people’s attitude,
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Public awareness
Rural area Factors
willingness, and participation in waste management (Pakpour et al. 2014). Indeed, a consensus among residents is a prerequisite for the subsequent implementation of a solid waste management plan (Song et al. 2016). Hence, when selecting the most appropriate solid waste management system for a certain area, decision makers must consider not only the technical aspects and implementation costs but also the awareness of residents (Khoo 2009). “Public environmental awareness” refers to the information people possess about any phenomena related to their environment (Lima et al. 2005), their concerns about the environment (Varkuti et al. 2008), and their willingness to act in favor of the environment (Zsoka 2008; Martnez-Pe~ na et al. 2013). The importance of public awareness and adequate facilities for public participation in waste management has
DOI: 10.1002/ieam.4033
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Integr Environ Assess Manag 14, 2018—Z Han et al.
reached a consensus in some countries (Mukherji et al. 2016), such as Brazil (Bringhenti and G€ unther 2011), Italy (De Feo and De Gisi 2010), and Malaysia (Karim Ghani et al. 2013). However, there is still insufficient knowledge of public awareness to develop an adequate management system because of variables related to environmental, social, and economic aspects, as well as related to technical aspects (De Feo and Malvano 2009; Song et al. 2015). Many studies have shown that people’s intentions and behaviors toward domestic waste, as well as their willingness to pay, are influenced significantly by gender, age, education, income, employment status, home ownership, location, and government policies (Danso et al. 2006; Rahji and Oloruntoba 2009; Afroza et al. 2011; Banga et al. 2011; Martı´nez-Pe~ na et al. 2013; Wang et al. 2014; Mukherji et al. 2016; Song et al. 2016; Triguero et al. 2016; Wang et al. 2016; Zeng et al. 2016). Mukherji et al. (2016) showed that females, an older age group, a lower socioeconomic group, and the highest socioeconomic group had greater abstract knowledge of waste management. However, the findings of different studies often depend on the sample used, thereby yielding different conclusions. For example, Kwetey et al. (2014) found that the socioeconomic characteristics of respondents, such as their age, education, income, and employment, had no significant effects on their willingness to pay for improved waste services. Currently, China is a rapidly developing country and the largest municipal solid waste (MSW) generator in the world (Zeng et al. 2016), and thus the Chinese government must address many environmental problems in rural areas, where an increasingly serious issue is pollution by rural domestic waste (Han, Dan et al. 2015). In China, nearly 65% of the population lives in rural communities, and 200 million tonnes of MSW were produced in rural areas in 2011, which exceeded the total amount (180 million tons/y) generated by 660 Chinese cities (He 2012). About one-third of the domestic waste in the rural areas of China (RAC) was dumped randomly, and it caused serious environmental pollution (Yang et al. 2012). Furthermore, the awareness of domestic waste separation and collection is still weak among Chinese residents (Gu et al. 2015). Thus, the public awareness of domestic waste characteristics and management (PADWCM) is very important for waste management in the RAC. Many studies have investigated the awareness, participation, and willingness to sort waste, as well as collecting waste and paying for waste services in cities, but relatively few have considered the PADWCM and its socioeconomic factors in rural areas. Therefore, using questionnaires and statistical methods, we investigated China as a typical example of a developing country in order to study the PADWCM in rural areas. An objective of the present study was to explore the public perception of environmental pollution (PEP) and the PADWCM, including their awareness of domestic waste characteristics (pollution, hazard, and recyclability) and their awareness of domestic waste management (DWM) (waste classification and the necessity for treatment). Another Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018:395–406
objective was to clarify the effects of socioeconomic factors, such as gender, demonstration projects, propaganda, age, education, and income. The results of the present study will be useful for decision makers, environmentalists, educators, and businesses when planning DWM in the rural areas of developing countries.
MATERIALS AND METHODS Survey methods and contents The primary sources of the data used in the present study were random questionnaires completed by 811 households in 59 villages from 6 provinces (including Tibet, Xingjiang, Gansu, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan) in West China in face-toface interviews with well-trained interviewers during 2012 to 2016. The characteristics of domestic waste (Han et al. 2017) and their influencing factors (Han et al. 2018), and the PADWCM had been studied. Information was obtained about the following: 1) The socioeconomic characteristics of respondents and their households, including their gender, age, educational level, annual household income, and sources of income. 2) The current situation regarding demonstration programs and environmental protection propaganda programs in local villages. 3) The current situation in terms of DWM, collection, transfer, treatment, and disposal in local villages. 4) The PEP of respondents, including surface-water pollution, noise pollution, domestic waste pollution, air pollution, groundwater pollution, soil contamination, and the absence of pollution. 5) The PADWCM, including the awareness of domestic waste characteristics, such as characteristic pollution caused by domestic waste, hazard of domestic waste, recyclability of domestic waste, and the awareness of DWM, such as the awareness of waste classification and the awareness of treatment necessary for domestic waste. Data analysis Statistical analyses were performed with Microsoft Excel 2016 and SPSS 19.0. Logistic regressions were used to analyze the main factors that affected public PEP and PADWCM. The estimated model had the following form: Pi ¼ b0 þ bi X i þ e; ð1Þ 1 Pi where Pi ¼ 1 if the respondent is aware of environmental pollution, domestic waste pollution, hazardous waste, and recyclable waste; understands the waste classification; and recognizes the necessity for treating domestic waste. Otherwise, Pi ¼ 0, b0 is a constant term, bi is the coefficient of independent variables, Xi is a vector of explanatory independent variables, and e is a random error term. The independent variables in this model are the gender, age,
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education, and income of households, as well as demonstration projects and propaganda in local villages. Given Equation 1, the empirical model for examining the influence of different factors is PADWCM ¼ b0 þ b1 Gender þ b2 Demonstration þ b3 Propaganda þ b4 Age þ b5 Education þ b6 Income þ e:
ð2Þ In addition, the influence of public PEP on PADWCM was considered separately. The coefficients of b measure the marginal effects associated with each independent variable, where these values represent the amount by which the probability of choosing each option changes in response to a unit change in the predictor. In the present study, the exp(bi) (odds ratio) was used to investigate the main factors that influenced PEP and PADWCM at P 0.05.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Background Socioeconomic background of study subjects and their households. Table 1 shows the socioeconomic characteristics of the study subjects and their households. Compared with the national percentage in RAC, most of the interviewees
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were middle-aged or older because the younger population has migrated to work in cities. Only 15.6% of the interviewees had a high school education or above, and more than half had only primary school education or below. The primary energy sources were electricity (76.1%), firewood and straw (65.6%), and biogas or natural gas (33.3%). Among the households investigated, 77.1% had an income of less than US$4500/y, which is lower than the national average due to the relatively lower economic development in Western China. The primary sources of income were farming (53.3%) and migrant working (33.5%). Figure 1 shows that the average education period for respondents had a significant positive correlation with the response median in different income groups and a significant negative correlation with the response average in different age groups. However, there was no significant correlation between age and income. Generation and composition of domestic waste. Table 2 shows details of the generation and composition of domestic waste in the rural areas of some developing countries. The generation of domestic waste was very high in the RAC compared with other developing countries. The percentage of recyclable waste ranged from 16.0% to 37.8%, which indicates that there is some potential benefit of recycling domestic waste in rural areas. In addition, plastic sheeting, automotive batteries, and home appliances can be reused
Table 1. Socioeconomic characteristics of respondents and their households
Influencing factors
Group
Effective sample size
Percentage %
Description in statisticsa
National statisticsb
Gender
Male Female
241 283
46.0 54.0
(1) (0)
50.5 49.5
Demonstration
Demonstrated villages Nondemonstrated villages
151 134
53.0 47.0
(1) (0)
— —
Propaganda
Propagandized village Nonpropagandized village
352 256
57.9 42.1
(1) (0)
— —
A
