Student participation in solid waste management in halls of residence, Makerere University

Abstract

Solid waste management in Makerere University is still in a very poor state especially around Halls of residence. This can be partially attributed to the very few dustbins provided for disposing of solid waste, which are also far from students’ rooms forcing them to throw rubbish in corridors. This in turn has created a very poor attitude towards and practice of solid waste management amongst students in Halls of residence. The study sought to find out the demographic and socio-economic factors that influence students’ participation in solid waste management. Primary data was used in the research and a simple logistic regression model was used to investigate the effect of demographic and socio-economic factors on student participation in solid waste management in Halls of residence, Makerere University. Results indicated that majority of the participants were females (69.7%) and that, most students participate in solid waste management (91.9%). Forty two percent of the Halls had more than 2 dustbins per floor and most of the dustbins were 2 meters from students’ rooms. Fifty nine percent of the students also reported that the waste was collected twice a day. The factors highly associated with student participation in solid waste management are; gender of the student (p-value=0.010), number of dustbins and distance to the dustbins. On average, females were 5.94 times more likely to participate in solid waste management as compared to males, students in Halls with 2 dustbins on each floor (p-value=0.013) were on average 8.88 times more likely to participate in solid waste management as compared to those with 1distbin and students in Halls with more than 2 dustbins on each floor (p-value=0.038) were on average 6.53 times more likely to participate in solid waste management as compared to those with 1distbin. Students in Halls where dustbins are 1 meter from their rooms (p-value=0.002) were on average 17.83 times more likely to participate in solid waste management as compared to those where dustbins are more than 2 meters from their rooms and students in Halls where dustbins are 2 meters from their rooms (p-value= 0.007) were on average 7.966 times more likely to participate in solid waste management as compared to those where dustbins are more than 2 meters from their rooms. The study recommends that more dustbins should be provided in Halls of residence to encourage students to participate in the different practices of solid waste management. Dustbins should be placed closer to students’ rooms so that they can easily access them hence encouraging students to participate in solid waste management