Predicting the Intention to Sort Waste at Home in Rural Communities in Lebanon: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour

Marco Bardus and May A. Massoud
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Marco Bardus: Institute of Applied Health Research, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
May A. Massoud: Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-18

Abstract: Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) such as Lebanon have limited technical, economic, and social infrastructures to manage municipal solid waste properly. Understanding what motivates citizens to sort waste at home is paramount to designing effective, efficient, and equitable waste management interventions. Within the solid waste management project “RES-Q” in Southern Lebanon, we investigated the socio-cognitive predictors of waste sorting in a sample of 767 households from the targeted area using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Perceived behavioural control (β = 0.96, p < 0.001), perceived norms (β = −0.30, p < 0.001), and current behaviour (β = 0.06, p < 0.001) were the strongest predictors of intention; attitude toward separating waste was not a significant predictor (β = 0.04, p = 0.3881). Consequently, future behavioural interventions should build capability and opportunity to perform the behaviour before normalising it. For example, citizens should receive bins and bags to separate waste and be shown how to perform the behaviour and how easy and convenient it is to increase their behavioural control. In parallel, waste collection and treatment infrastructures must be in place so that citizens can see that sorting waste is a social norm. These actions will ensure the success of future behavioural interventions within the RES-Q project and beyond.

Keywords: solid waste management; waste sorting and recycling; psychological factors; theory of planned behaviour (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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