Assessing the knowledge and attitudes of Makerere University undergraduate students towards adoption of sustainable solid waste management practices: a case study of sustainable solid waste disposal practices
Abstract
Solid waste disposal practices among Makerere University undergraduate students has been a
major challenge of the University management since the advent of private sponsored students
scheme in the 1990s that saw a spontaneous rise in the number of students. The Study was
aimed at assessing the levels of knowledge and attitudes among Makerere University
undergraduate students towards the adoption of sustainable solid waste disposal practices
with a major focus on solid waste dumping practices. The study was guided by research
objectives: evaluate the current solid waste disposal practices among Makerere University
undergraduate students with a focus on solid waste dumping practices, assess the current
levels of knowledge on solid waste disposal practices among Makerere University
undergraduate students with a major focus on solid waste dumping practices and examine the
attitudes of undergraduate students towards adoption of sustainable solid waste disposal
practices with a major focus on solid waste dumping practices.
The study area was Makerere University based in Kampala, Uganda and the study population
was Makerere University undergraduate students across all the 10 colleges of study. The
study was cross sectional and adopted the use of the non-random design method to select
study participants. The data collection tool used to meet the objectives of the study was a
well-designed digital questionnaire. The data collected was quantitative in nature. To analyze
all the 3 study objectives, descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were
used.
The study indicated that majority of undergraduate respondents‟ (64%) attitudes towards
adoption of sustainable solid waste dumping practices were generally positive. The study
found out that most of the respondents (97%) were knowledgeable about the fact that poor
dumping of solid waste had a negative impact on the environment compared to only a lower
percentage of respondents (2%) who otherwise lacked sufficient knowledge on solid waste
dumping practices. The study revealed that majority of the respondents (54%) dispose their
solid waste through open dumping. The study recommended that Uganda‟s ministry of
Education and Sports integrates environmental communication within environmental
education initiatives across the curriculum of different learning intuitions to supplement the
currently high levels of knowledge and positive attitudes towards the adoption of solid waste
dumping practices among undergraduate students.