Knowledge, Attitude, And Challenges of High-Rise Building Community Towards Waste Segregation and Recycling Practice in Metropolitan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Abstract

The increasing population of modern cities contributes to the development of more residential high-rise buildings as well as waste management challenges. Recycling and waste separation can be a challenge in high rise apartment buildings due to the high volume of residents and limited space for waste management. Therefore, the objectives of this study is to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and challenges of high-rise building communities towards waste segregation and recycling. Using cross-sectional analysis, online questionnaires were distributed to target respondents in Sentul Kuala Lumpur. Data were collected from 375 residents of high-rise buildings. The results show that the high-rise community has modest knowledge (57%) and challenges (61%) to practice waste sorting and recycling, however, showed a good attitude (81%) towards it. Waste separation and recycling were influenced by sociodemographic factors of education (p = 0.05), ownership (p = 0.02), marital status (p = 0.01), and floor of living (p = 0.02). There is positive correlation between knowledge an attitude (r = 0.57, p = 0.26), but negative correlation between knowledge and challenges (r = - 0.25, p = 0.0001). The result also indicates that this community lack information and knowledge to practice waste sorting and recycling. Intervention is required to convey the information to these dwellers.