BEHAVIORS AND CAUSAL FACTORS IN SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT OF LOCAL PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY

Abstract

The objectives of this qualitative research were to understand behaviors and causal factors of solid waste management behavior and to propose the guidelines for solving the problems of solid waste management of the people in the community. Data were collected by key informants were people with purposive sampling that used focus group discussion, from 3 groups (8 informants/group), totaling 24 people. Data were analyzed using a content analysis.

The major findings indicated as follows: solid waste management behaviors were undesirable because local people focused on burning solid waste, disposing of solid waste in public areas and ignored to sort solid waste. These undesired behaviors were caused by causal factors, which were personal factors, namely: insufficient knowledge of solid waste management and negative attitudes towards solid waste management. The most important solutions include that all people and every household must participate in solving the problem while local administrative organizations in the community act as supporting bodies.

The findings lead to the suggestions that behavioral modification program in solid waste management of the people in the community should be organized by local administrative organizations under the consideration of two aforementioned causal factors in order to change undesirable behaviors to desirable ones, leading to the formulation of proper and appropriate measures of solid waste management.