Recycling Efficiency and Waste Minimization through Students’ Behaviour on the University of Leicester Campus

Authors

  • Rebeen Abdulkhaliq Abdullah Department of Tourism Foundation Administration, Koya Technical Institute, Erbil Polytechnic University, Kurdistan - Iraq. Author
  • Zana Majed Sadq Department of Management and Accounting, Faculty of Humanities and social science, Koya University, Koya KOY45, Kurdistan Region – F.R. Iraq Department of Legal Administration, College of Business and Economics, Lebanese-French University, Kurdistan Region – F.R. Iraq Author
  • Bestoon Othman Department of Business Administration, Koya Technical Institute, Erbil Polytechnic University and Universiti Tun Hussein Onn, Malaysia. Author
  • Dastan Tareq Faeq Department of Radiology, Koya Technical Institute, Erbil Polytechnic University, Kurdistan - Iraq. Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61841/y5464x28

Keywords:

Recycling, Waste Minimization, Behaviour, University of Leicester

Abstract

Waste is generated from all materials placed on the market in different ways. The volumes of municipal waste in general and in the institutions of higher education in particular, one of which is a case study in this research, have been rising over the years almost everywhere in the world. This research is an investigation of recycling efficiency and waste minimisation through students’ behaviour on the University of Leicester campus, conducted by a questionnaire and an interview survey. The purposes of the study are: first, to examine the students’ environmental awareness and determine its impact on the waste management system; second, to demonstrate the impacts of students’ attitudes and behaviors towards recycling and waste minimising on campus; and finally, to identify factors that affect students’ recycling and waste minimising habits, such as demographic, external, and internal factors. The results show that the level of students’ environmental awareness is low due to lack of knowledge about environmental sustainability. Another finding was that students are willing to carry out recycling and pro-environmental behaviour; nevertheless, more facilities and more efforts are needed for students to gain a better understanding of environmental sustainability and waste management. Moreover, the main barriers preventing students from recycling are lack of information about environmental protection and lack of facilities on the campus. 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] Ajzen, I. 1991. The theory of planned behavior. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 50, 179-211.

[2] Armijo dega, C., Ojeda Benítez, S., & Ramírezbarreto, M. E. 2008. Solid waste characterization and recycling potential for a university

campus. Waste management, 28, S21-S26.

[3] Awasthi, M. K., Zhao, J., Soundari, P. G., Kumar, S., Chen, H., Awasthi, S. K.,... & Zhang, Z. (2019). Sustainable Management of Solid

Waste. In Sustainable Resource Recovery and Zero Waste Approaches (pp. 79-99). Elsevier.

[4] Bao, R. 2011. Waste and recycling attitudes and behavior of students in Turku. University of Turku. 40 ECTS.

[5] Berenguer, J. M. & Corraliza, J. A. 2000. Preocupación ambiental y comportamientosecológicos. Psicothema, 12, 325-329.

[6] Beringer, A., Wright, T., & Malone, L. 2008. Sustainability in higher education in Atlantic Canada. International Journal of Sustainability

in Higher Education, 9, 48-67.

[7] Biggar J. 2009. Report on Green Day Feedback; online available at: http://www.unbc.ca/assets/green/unbcgreendayreport.pdf. [ Accessed at

August 8, 2014].

[8] Britten, N. 1995. Qualitative research: qualitative interviews in medical research. Bmj, 311, 251-253.

[9] Chan, K. & Fang, W. 2007. Use of the internet and traditional media among young people. Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for

Responsible Marketers, 8, 244-256.

[10] Creighton, S. H. 1998. Greening the ivory tower: Improving the environmental track record of universities, colleges and other institutions,

MIT Press.

[11] Defra. 2011. Government Review of Policy in England. Department for Environment. Online available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/69401/pb13540-waste-policy-review110614.pdf. [Accessed

at August 12, 2014].

[12] Defra. 2013. Waste management plan for England. Online available at: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/waste/https-consult-defra-gov-ukwaste/supporting_documents/20130711%20%20Consultation%20Plan.pdf. [Accessed on August 11, 2014].

[13] Defra. 2013. Waste Prevention Programme for England. Online available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/264902/pb14092-wpp-measures-evaluation-20131211.pdf.

[Accessed on August 12, 2014].

[14] Defra. 2014. Reducing and managing waste. Online available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/reducing-and-managing-waste.

[Accessed on August 10, 2014].

[15] Dupont, D. P. 2004. Do children matter? An examination of gender differences in environmental valuation. Ecological Economics, 49,

273-286.

[16] Eppel, S., Sharp, V., & Davies, L. 2013. A review of Defra's approach to building an evidence base for influencing sustainable behaviour.

Resources, Conservation, and Recycling, 79, 30-42.

[17] Espinosa, R., Turpin, S., Polanco, G., De Latorre, A., Delfín, I. & Raygoza, I. 2008. Integral urban solid waste management program in a

Mexican university. Waste Management, 28, S27-S32.

[18] Jensen, B. B. 2002. Knowledge, action, and pro-environmental behaviour. Environmental Education Research, 8, 325-334.

[19] Kaiser, F. G. & Shimoda, T. A. 1999. Responsibility as a predictor of ecological behaviour. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 19, 243-

253.

[20] Katona, I., Kárász, I., Leskó, G., Kosáros, A. & Lakatos, G. 2008. Role of Media in Students' Life and Their Environmental Education: A

Survey of Students Aged 13 to 17. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 10, 79-90.

[21] Kelly, T., Mason, I., Leiss, M., & Ganesh, S. 2006. University community responses to on-campus resource recycling. Resources,

Conservation and Recycling, 47, 42-55.

[22] Kollmuss, A., & Agyeman, J. 2002. Mind the gap: why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental

behavior? Environmental education research, 8(3), 239-260.

[23] Mai, J. E. (2016). Looking for information: A survey of research on information seeking, needs, and behavior. Emerald Group Publishing.

[24] Mair, J., & Laing, J. H. 2013. Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour: the role of sustainability-focused events. Journal of Sustainable

Tourism, 21(8), 1113-1128.

[25] Makarichi, L., Kan, R., Jutidamrongphan, W., & Techato, K. A. (2019). Suitability of municipal solid waste in African cities for

thermochemical waste-to-energy conversion: The case of Harare Metropolitan City, Zimbabwe. Waste Management & Research, 37(1),

83-94.

[26] Makki, M. H., Abd-el-Khalick, F., & Boujaoude, S. 2003. Lebanese secondary school students' environmental knowledge and attitudes.

Environmental Education Research, 9, 21-33.

[27] Marshall, R. E. & Farahbakhsh, K. (2013). Systems approaches to integrated solid waste management in developing countries. Waste

management, 33(4), 988-1003.

[28] McLaren, P. (2015). Life in schools: An introduction to critical pedagogy in the foundations of education. Routledge.

[29] Melgar, N. & Rossi, M. 2012. A Cross-Country Analysis of the Risk Factors for Depression at the Micro and Macro Levels. American

Journal of Economics and Sociology, 71, 354-376.

[30] Melgar, N., Mussio, I., & Rossi, M. 2013. Environmental concern and behavior: Do personal attitudes matter?. Documentos de Trabajo.

DECON. Document No. 01/13. ISSN 0797-7484.

[31] Nagawiecki, T. 2009. University of Idaho Waste Characterization. Moscow: University of Idaho

[32] National Curriculum. 2010. Primary Curriculum Key Stage 1 & Key Stage 2.

[33] Papageorgiou, A., Barton, J., & Karagiannidis, A. 2009. Assessment of the greenhouse effect impact of technologies used for energy

recovery from municipal waste: a case for England. Journal of Environmental Management, 90, 2999-3012.

[34] Poudel, S., & Nyaupane, G. P. (2017). Understanding environmentally responsible behaviour of ecotourists: The Reasoned Action

Approach. Tourism Planning & Development, 14(3), 337-352.

[35] Rise, J., Thompson, M., & Verplanken, B. 2003. Measuring implementation intentions in the context of the theory of planned behavior.

Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 44, 87-95.

[36] Sabbas, T., Polettini, A., Pomi, R., Astrup, T., Hjelmar, O., Mostbauer, P., Cappai, G., Magel, G., Salhofer, S. & Speiser, C. 2003.

Management of municipal solid waste incineration residues. Waste Management, 23, 61-88.

[37] Sampei, Y. & Aoyagi-usui, M. 2009. Mass-media coverage, its influence on public awareness of climate-change issues, and implications

for Japan’s national campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Global Environmental Change, 19, 203-212.

[38] Smyth, D. P., Fredeen, A. L., & Booth, A. L. 2010. Reducing solid waste in higher education: The first step towards ‘greening university

campus. Resources, Conservation, and Recycling, 54, 1007-1016.

[39] Stern, P. C. 2000. New environmental theories: toward a coherent theory of environmentally significant behavior. Journal of social issues,

56, 407-424.

[40] Thomas, C., & Sharp, V. 2013. Understanding the normalisation of recycling behaviour and its implications for other pro-environmental

behaviours: a review of social norms and recycling. Resources, Conservation, and Recycling, 79, 11-20.

[41] Tonglet, M., Phillips, P. S., & Bates, M. P. 2004. Determining the drivers for householder pro-environmental behaviour: waste

minimisation compared to recycling. Resources, Conservation, and Recycling, 42, 27-48.

[42] University of Leicester. Environment Team. 2014. Waste and recycling. Online available at:

http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/estates/environment/wasteandrecycling. [Accessed on August 28, 2014].

[43] Unsworth, K. L., Dmitrieva, A. & Adriasola, E. 2013. Changing behaviour: Increasing the effectiveness of workplace interventions in

creating pro‐environmental behaviour change. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34, 211-229.

[44] Warner, W. S. 1998. Cultural influences that affect the acceptance of compost toilets: psychology, religion, and gender. International

Composting Toilet News [online] September.

[45] Varela-Candamio, L., Novo-Corti, I., & García-Álvarez, M. T. (2018). The importance of environmental education in the determinants of

green behavior: A meta-analysis approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 170, 1565-1578.

[46] Vassanadumrongdee, S., & Kittipongvises, S. (2018). Factors influencing source separation intention and willingness to pay for improving

waste management in Bangkok, Thailand. Sustainable Environment Research, 28(2), 90-99.

[47] Zhang, N. 2011. Greening academia: developing sustainable waste management at UK higher educational institutions. University of

Southampton

Downloads

Published

31.05.2019

How to Cite

Abdulkhaliq Abdullah, R., Majed Sadq, Z., Othman, B., & Tareq Faeq, D. (2019). Recycling Efficiency and Waste Minimization through Students’ Behaviour on the University of Leicester Campus. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 23(2), 671-688. https://doi.org/10.61841/y5464x28