The Effect Of Public Awareness On E-Waste Disposal Practices In Kicukiro District, Kigali City, Rwanda

Yvette MANIRAGUHA, Jonas NZABAMWITA

Abstract


E-waste is one of the most emerging environmental problems in cities and the effectiveness of management systems largely depends on users' understanding of the dangers of e-waste and appropriate ways and places for its disposal. The current study sought to examine the influence of public awareness on e-waste disposal behavior in the district of Kicukiro, Kigali city, Rwanda. A mixed research approach entailed the use of structured questionnaire and key informant interviews. In all, 384 questionnaires were administered in the districts of Kicukiro, Gikondo, Kigarama and Gatenga and 356 valid questionnaires were received with a response rate of 92.7%. Quantitative data analysis involved the use of descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation while thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data from interviews. Findings revealed that 78.7% of the participants had heard about e-waste but environmentally undesirable behaviors were evident: 30.9% kept e-waste in their houses, 25.3% mixed them with household waste and 21.1% sold them to informal e-waste collectors while only 7.0% used collection centers. Lack of collection centers was the major problem (36.5%), lack of awareness (25.3%), poor enforcement (16.9%), costs (11.2%) and convenience (10.1%). Awareness showed a significant and positive relationship with proper disposal behavior (r = 0.64, p < 0.001). The interviews revealed that awareness was more of general nature than practical and that behavior was largely influenced by infrastructure, enforcement, and convenience. The research comes to the conclusion that while awareness is necessary, it alone is not sufficient, and that education needs to go hand-in-hand with provision of accessible means for collecting e-waste, along with better implementation of regulations and take-backs by producers.

Keywords


E-waste; Public awareness; Disposal practices; Recycling & Environmental management

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.52155/ijpsat.v59.2.8762

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