Public perception on municipal solid waste management: a case of India

The present work aimed to study the overall perception, awareness, practice, and willingness on solid waste management of the residents of an industrial district in India. The results suggest that the awareness regarding SWM was mostly impacted by the region of inhabitant with urban dwellers remaining aware about the ill-effects of solid waste (88.67%), the timing of garbage cleaning (53.91%), and regularity in solid waste cleaning (68.36%) than their counterparts in the rural sector with 79.91, 34.11, and 45.79%, respectively. The practice, however, showed variability with gender determining the use of separate bins (51.87% males and 67.69% females), region determining burning of plastic (17.97% urban and 37.85% rural), gender (56.44% males and 75.11% females), and region (73.44% urban and 56.07% rural) determining the use of community bins and education (OR = 2.917; CI = 1.258 – 6.764) for reuse of wastes. Similarly, willingness also showed variability in results with gender determining the use of paper bags (85.06% males and 94.76% females), occupation determining the community participation (OR = 3.557, CI = 1.162 – 10.890), gender determining the installation of composting plant (75.93% males and 82.28% females) and age determining the financial contribution (OR = 1.995, CI = 1.039 – 3.831). The result obtained suggests that the overall public perception of solid waste among the residents is not satisfactory. In addition, the government should take steps to engage the general people in addressing local and regional solid waste challenges.