Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors about Waste Management in Nanglae-Nai, Nanglae Sub District , Muang District, Chiang Rai Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to investigate knowledge, attitudes and behaviours associated with waste management of Nang Lae Nai villagers in Nang Lae subdistrict, Muang district, Chiang Rai province and to study difficulties and problems of public participation in wasted management. Two groups of villagers were compared: plain-living villagers and hill tribe villagers (Akha and Lahu). The survey initially showed that the group of plain-living villagers had knowledge and understanding about types of waste better than the group of hill tribe villagers at the statistically significant level of 0.05. In terms of qualitative criteria, both groups of villagers had moderate knowledge of waste types. As for perception of disadvantages of waste, the group of plain-living villagers performed significantly better result (p<0.05) than the other whereas the qualitative criteria was good for plain-living villagers and moderate for hill tribes. Plain-living villagers and hill tribes showed equal knowledge of waste management while the criteria of both groups were moderate.

               The survey also revealed that the results related to attitudes of the villagers towards problems of waste in the community, waste management, perception of information about waste management and public participation in waste management were similar in both groups of villagers. In terms of behaviours associated with waste management, the behaviours about reducing solid waste of two groups showed the same results. However, the group of hill tribe villagers had better behaviours in providing suggestion for neighbours to reduce waste and participation in waste management planning (i.e. methods of waste disposal) at the significant level of 0.05. By contrast, the plain-living villagers performed behaviours regarding waste recycling (e.g. metals) and waste categorization (e.g. plastic, battery, general waste, etc.) better than the hill tribes (p<0.05).