Investigating University Students' Knowledge and Practices towards Appropriate Solid Waste Management Practices in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2017 in the subject Environmental Sciences, , language: English, abstract: Inappropriate solid waste management practices in universities in developing countries constitute one of the major factors leading to declining environmental health conditions. This study assesses the knowledge and practices of university students towards waste management in Accra, Ghana. A simple random sampling technique was used to select one public university and one private university for the study. Three hundred (n=300) students comprising of 150 from each university formed the analytical sample. Data collected were reported using descriptive statistics. The findings reveal that inadequate and inappropriate placement of waste bins as well as lack of awareness on proper solid waste practices were reported to influence solid waste disposal practices in the study areas. In addition, lack of knowledge on proper waste management practices was reported by respondents from both the public university (34%) and private university (32.7%). With regards to prospect of waste separation practice, 94.6% and 93.3% of respondents in the public university and private university respectively reported being willing to separate their waste when the necessary logistics are provided. It is recommended that environmental education be included in institutional curricular and this should be supported by providing the needed logistics for the separation and appropriate disposal of waste.