Abstract
This study examines the effect of “waste management” factors (Knowledge, Motivation, Time, Awareness, Contribution, Attitudes) on household waste generation (HWG), more precisely the measured weight of waste generated at households for a week (MWWGHW) while controlling for the socioeconomic factors such as family size, monthly family income, education level, and occupation. It also examines the moderating effects of the geographic location (urban versus rural areas) on the relationships between waste management factors and MWWGHW while controlling for the aforementioned socioeconomic factors. The overall results show that socioeconomic factors such as Family Size (\(\beta\) = 0.134; p < 0.001) and Monthly Family Income (\(\beta\) = 0.301; p < 0.001) significantly and positively influence MWWGHW, whereas the Occupation factor (\(\beta\) = − 0.106, p < 0.05) significantly and negatively influences MWWGHW. Furthermore, the results show that the Knowledge (\(\beta\) = − 0.129, p < 0.05), Motivation (\(\beta\) = − 0.161, p < 0.001), Contribution (\(\beta\) = − 0.111, p < 0.05), and Awareness (\(\beta\)= − 0.189, p < 0.001) factors significantly and negatively influence MWWGHW. While the results show that the geographic location Urban Area moderates significantly the relationship between the Motivation factor and MWWGHW (\(\beta\) = − 0.129, p < 0.05), the same results show, however, that the geographic location Rural Area moderates significantly but negatively the relationships between Knowledge factor and MWWGHW (\(\beta\) = − 0.187, p < 0.01); Motivation factor and MWWGHW (\(\beta\) = − 0.390, p < 0.001); Contribution factor and MWWGHW (\(\beta\) = − 0.154, p < 0.10); and Awareness factor and MWWGHW (\(\beta\) = − 0.285, p < 0.001). Based on these results, implications for policy orientations and future research are provided.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author (CM) upon reasonable request.
References
Adzawla, W., Tahidu, A., Mustapha, S., & Azumah, S. B. (2019). Do socioeconomic factors influence households’ solid waste disposal systems? Evidence from Ghana. Waste Management & Research, 37(1_suppl), 51–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242x18817717
Afroz, R., Hanaki, K., & Tudin, R. (2011a). Factors affecting waste generation: A study in a waste management program in Dhaka City. Bangladesh. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 179(1–4), 509–519
Afroz, R., Tudin, R., Hanaki, K., & Masud, M. M. (2011b). Selected socio-economic factors affecting the willingness to minimise solid waste in Dhaka city, Bangladesh. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 54(6), 711–731
Alhassan, H., Kwakwa, P. A., & Owusu-Sekyere, E. (2020). Households’ source separation behaviour and solid waste disposal options in Ghana’s Millennium City. Journal of Environmental Management, 259, 110055. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.110055
Allen, M. (2017). The SAGE encyclopedia of communication research methods (Vols. 1–4). SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483381411
Astane, A. R. D., & Hajilo, M. (2017). Factors affecting the rural domestic waste generation Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management, 3(4), 417–426. https://doi.org/10.22034/gjesm.2017.03.04.007
Babaei, A. A., Alavi, N., Goudarzi, G., Teymouri, P., Ahmadi, K., & Rafiee, M. (2015). Household recycling knowledge, attitudes and practices towards solid waste management. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 102, 94–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.06.014
Bagozzi, R., & Yi, Y. (1988). On the evaluation of structural equation models. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Sciences, 16, 74–94. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02723327
Bandara, N. J., Hettiaratchi, J. P. A., Wirasinghe, S., & Pilapiiya, S. (2007). Relation of waste generation and composition to socio-economic factors: A case study. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 135(1), 31–39
Boomsma, A., & Hoogland, J. J. (2001). The robustness of LISREL modeling revisited. Structural equation models: Present and future. A Festschrift in honor of Karl Jöreskog, 2(3), 139–168
Buenrostro, O., Bocco, G., & Cram, S. (2001). Classification of sources of municipal solid wastes in developing countries. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 32(1), 29–41
Chin, W. W. (2010). How to write up and report PLS analyses. In Handbook of partial least squares (pp. 655–690). Springer
Dangi, M. B., Pretz, C. R., Urynowicz, M. A., Gerow, K. G., & Reddy, J. (2011). Municipal solid waste generation in Kathmandu. Nepal. Journal of Environmental Management, 92(1), 240–249
De Feo, G., & De Gisi, S. (2010). Public opinion and awareness towards MSW and separate collection programmes: A sociological procedure for selecting areas and citizens with a low level of knowledge. Waste Management, 30(6), 958–976
Ding, L., Velicer, W. F., & Harlow, L. L. (1995). Effects of estimation methods, number of indicators per factor, and improper solutions on structural equation modeling fit indices. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 2(2), 119–143
Dwivedy, M., & Mittal, R. (2013). Willingness of residents to participate in e-waste recycling in India. Environmental Development, 6, 48–68
Ekere, W., Mugisha, J., & Drake, L. (2009). Factors influencing waste separation and utilization among households in the Lake Victoria crescent, Uganda. Waste Management, 29(12), 3047–3051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2009.08.001
Field, A (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS. Introducing Statistical Methods Series. Sage Publications, London
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50
Gefen, D., Straub, D., & Boudreau, M.-C. (2000). Structural equation modeling and regression: Guidelines for research practice. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 4(1), 7
Gökdere, M. (2005). A study on environmental knowledge level of primary students in Turkey. Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching
Gooderham, P., Minbaeva, D. B., & Pedersen, T. (2011). Governance mechanisms for the promotion of social capital for knowledge transfer in multinational corporations. Journal of Management Studies, 48(1), 123–150
Hair, J., Black, W., Babin, B., Anderson, R., & Tatham, R. (2010). Multivariate data analysis New Jersy: Pearson Education. Pearson Education
Hair, J. F. Jr., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson R. E., & Tatham, R. L. (2006). Multivariate Data Analysis (6th ed.), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Education, Inc.
Hoyt, W. T., Warbasse, R. E., & Chu, E. Y. (2006). Construct validation in counseling psychology research. The Counseling Psychologist, 34(6), 769–805
Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55.
Iacobucci, D. (2010). Structural equations modeling: Fit indices, sample size, and advanced topics. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 20(1), 90–98
Irwan, D., Basri, N. E. A., Watanabe, K., & Abushammala, M. F. M. (2013). Influence of income level and age on per capita household solid waste generation in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Jurnal Teknologi, 65(2)
Padilla, J. A., & Trujillo, J. C. (2018). Waste disposal and households’ heterogeneity. Identifying factors shaping attitudes towards source-separated recycling in Bogotá, Colombia. Waste Management, 74, 16–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.11.052
Jadoon, A., Batool, S. A., & Chaudhry, M. N. (2014). Assessment of factors affecting household solid waste generation and its composition in Gulberg Town, Lahore, Pakistan. Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management, 16(1), 73–81
Jereme, I. A., Siwar, C., Begum, R. A., & Talib, B. A. (2016). Addressing the problems of food waste generation in Malaysia. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 3(8), 68–77
Kaiser, H. F. (1974). An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39(1), 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02291575
Kaza, S., Yao, L., Bhada-Tata, P., & Van Woerden, F. (2018). What a waste 2.0: A global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050. The World Bank
Khan, D., Kumar, A., & Samadder, S. R. (2016). 2016/03/01/). Impact of socioeconomic status on municipal solid waste generation rate. Waste Management, 49, 15–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2016.01.019
Khan, F., Ahmed, W., & Najmi, A. (2019). Understanding consumers’ behavior intentions towards dealing with the plastic waste: Perspective of a developing country. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 142, 49–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.11.020
Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. 2005. New York, NY: Guilford, 2
Kline, R. B. (2016). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (4th ed ed.)
Kumar, A., & Samadder, S. R. (2017). An empirical model for prediction of household solid waste generation rate – A case study of Dhanbad, India. Waste Management, 68, 3–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.07.034
Kumara, A. S., & Pallegedara, A. (2020). Household waste disposal mechanisms in Sri Lanka: Nation-wide survey evidence for their trends and determinants. Waste Management, 114, 62–71
Lavee, D., & Nardiya, S. (2013). A cost evaluation method for transferring municipalities to solid waste source-separated system. Waste Management, 33(5), 1064–1072
Maskey, B., & Singh, M. (2017). Household waste generating factors and composition study for effective management in Gorkha municipality of Nepal. Journal of Sustainable Development, 10(6). https://doi.org/10.5539/jsd.v10n6p169
Mattar, L., Abiad, M. G., Chalak, A., Diab, M., & Hassan, H. (2018, 2018/10/10/). Attitudes and behaviors shaping household food waste generation: Lessons from Lebanon. Journal of Cleaner Production, 198, 1219–1223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.07.085
Meneses, G. D., & Palacio, A. B. (2005). Recycling behavior: A multidimensional approach. Environment and Behavior, 37(6), 837–860
Ojeda-Benítez, S., Armijo-de Vega, C., & Marquez-Montenegro, M. Y. (2008). Household solid waste characterization by family socioeconomic profile as unit of analysis. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 52(7), 992–999
Sankoh, F. P., Yan, X., & Conteh, A. M. H. (2012). A situational assessment of socioeconomic factors affecting solid waste generation and composition in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Journal of Environmental Protection, 2012
Saphores, J.-D. M., Nixon, H., Ogunseitan, O. A., & Shapiro, A. A. (2006). Household willingness to recycle electronic waste: An application to California. Environment and behavior, 38(2), 183–208. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916505279045
Sorkun, M. F. (2018). How do social norms influence recycling behavior in a collectivistic society? A case study from Turkey. Waste Management, 80, 359–370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2018.09.026
Srun, P., & Kurisu, K. (2019). Internal and external influential factors on waste disposal behavior in public open spaces in Phnom Penh. Cambodia. Sustainability, 11(6), 1518
Steenkamp, J.-B.E., & Baumgartner, H. (1998). Assessing measurement invariance in cross-national consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research, 25(1), 78–90
Sujauddin, M., Huda, S., & Hoque, A. R. (2008). Household solid waste characteristics and management in Chittagong. Bangladesh. Waste Management, 28(9), 1688–1695
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2001). SAS for windows workbook for Tabachnick and Fidell using multivariate statistics. Allyn and Bacon
Thanh, N. P., Matsui, Y., & Fujiwara, T. (2010, Nov). Household solid waste generation and characteristic in a Mekong Delta city, Vietnam. Journal of Environmental Management, 91(11), 2307–2321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.06.016
Tinsley, H. E., & Tinsley, D. J. (1987). Uses of factor analysis in counseling psychology research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 34(4), 414
Trang, P. T. T., Dong, H. Q., Toan, D. Q., Hanh, N. T. X., & Thu, N. T. (2017). The effects of socio-economic factors on household solid waste generation and composition: A case study in Thu Dau Mot. Vietnam. Energy Procedia, 107, 253–258
Weston, R., & Gore, P. A., Jr. (2006). A brief guide to structural equation modeling. The Counseling Psychologist, 34(5), 719–751
Zen, I. S., Noor, Z. Z., & Yusuf, R. O. (2014). The profiles of household solid waste recyclers and non-recyclers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Habitat International, 42, 83–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2013.10.010
Zhang, H., Duan, H., Andric, J. M., Song, M., & Yang, B. (2018). Characterization of household food waste and strategies for its reduction: A Shenzhen City case study. Waste Management, 78, 426–433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2018.06.010
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhao, Y., Diunugala, H.P. & Mombeuil, C. Factors affecting household solid waste generation and management in Sri Lanka: an empirical study. Environ Monit Assess 193, 838 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09633-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09633-7