Barriers Affecting Municipal Solid Waste Management Practices of Residents in Ozamiz City, Philippines

Various activities, laws, and policies were implemented to address the emerging issue of solid waste management in cities and municipalities including the Local Government Units’ mandated duty to create a Solid Waste Management Plan to address the emerging issues brought by solid wastes. Identified activities in the plan is the Information, Education, and Communication campaign to inform knowledge and skills and encourage public participation. This study is focused on identifying the barriers affecting proper solid waste management practices of the residents in 9 urban barangays in Ozamiz City, that affected their intention and actual behavior. A descriptive -correlational method was utilized in this study. The data were gathered using a researcher-made questionnaire. The results revealed that most of the respondents are elderly with the age 51 years old and above, married, and have reached college level. The respondents received information on segregation, 3Rs, and composting through Barangay assemblies. However, most of the respondents unsegregate solid wastes despite the knowledge gained in proper solid waste management due to dominating barriers under practicality and responsibility as categorized in the Value-Action Gap and discrepancies in attitude-behavior of the respondents, weak or conflicting subjective norms, and low perceived behavioral control based on Theory of Planned Behavior. Addressing these barriers are imperative such as helping ease the inconvenience perceived, collaborative efforts, strict implementation of policies and regular collection of wastes, and possible integration of incentives could encourage the residents to comply with proper solid waste management.