The Development of Household Solid Waste Sorting of People in Nongmek Village, Sawathi Sub-District, Muang District, Khonkaen Province

Abstract

This study was performed as an action research to improve waste sorting of people
in 105 households residing in the Nongmek Village, Sawathi Sub-District, Muang
District, Khon Kaen Province. The study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude
and practice regarding waste sorting, study the development of waste sorting and
compare the waste amount before and after the introduction of waste sorting to
the community. The results revealed that knowledge of the people (54.3%) in the
community was neither good nor bad as far as solid waste management was
concerned. They had a highly positive attitude (57.14%) toward solid waste sorting
but low to moderate practice (69.5%) to do so. A workshop was conducted to establish
guidelines for the development of solid waste sorting in the community. Three
guidelines were derived from the workshop results. First, the relevant authorities
should support and/or provide funds for training and educating people about solid
waste and its sorting; they also should supply the community with waste sorting
equipment. Second, there should be publicity about the separation of solid waste
through the village broadcasting tower 2 times per week. Third, there should be a place
to sell recyclable solid waste in the community or at least a mobile station that visits
the community once a month to buy recyclable waste. After waste sorting had been
established in the community for 2 months solid waste had decreased by 21.62% and
the solid waste production had been reduced by 0.11 kg/day/person. The physical
composition of the waste changed from fresh waste (31.20%), including food,
vegetables, and fruits, to plastic-related waste (37.20%). It can be concluded that in
order to improve the sorting of solid waste, people in the community should
participate in the establishment of guidelines for waste sorting. This would encourage
people to decrease solid waste. This study emphasizes that stakeholder collaboration
helps to produce effective waste management.