Solid waste management and the urban community: A case study in Kuching city

Population concentration in urban areas has certainly put severe pressure on the local environment as manifested in the onset of urban heat islands, pollution, overcrowding, and loss of biodiversity due mainly to urban landuses. As such the urban space should be managed in the way that satisfies the sustainability and liveability imperatives through the inception of judicious urban management policies. This paper aims to investigate the state of solid waste management by the local community of Bandaraya Kuching Utara (BKU), Sarawak. The main focus was to gauge the knowledge, attitudes and community practices in solid waste management, to identify factors influencing household waste management, and to examine the role of the local authority (DBKU) in enhancing community capacity in sustainable solid waste management. Findings from the primary data gathered from the field survey of 102 respondents of Taman Fitrah and Kampung Pinang Jawa. indicated that the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices of solid waste management among the community was moderate. Only a few variables were significantly related to the practice of solid waste management, namely, separating the solid waste and sexes (p = 0.044), wrapping food waste prior to discharge and marital status (p = 0.005), and newspaper recycling practices and age group (p = 0.012). It was also found that the availability and accessibility to recycling facilities were important factors promoting solid waste management practices by the community, while that of ‘not mandatory to practice’ by DBKU did not motivate the community to participate in the program organized by the DBKU. Overall, the co-operation between local authority and sustainable community together with structural support is necessary to ensure the success of sustainability programmes in Bandaraya Kuching Utara.