Abstract
While the total amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Dammam city was about 13 million tons in 2013, it is expected to reach about 18.4 million tons in 2025. Although the main problem in Dammam city is an increase in solid waste production without any formal treatment except landfilling, the lack of waste segregation greatly affects the residents’ handling practices of solid waste due to incorrect disposing practices. The objective of this study explored the possibility of Dammam residents’ participation in sorting and recycling to improve MSW handling and to measure the influence of psychological factors which affecting residents’ willingness to participate in waste handling regarding socioeconomic levels and moderating effects. This study also examined various respondents’ perspectives on sorting and recycling sustainable waste and the handling of waste generation. This study covered most Dammam communities, with a gender distribution of 56% males and 44% females and the monthly income ranging from SR700 to SR12,000. The descriptive analysis showed that of the 450 participants, 170 (37.8%) were in the middle-income levels, 199 (44.2%) were in the high-income levels and 81 (18%) were in the low-income levels. The moderating effect of income was observed between attitude and willingness to sort and recycle waste in the low-income levels and high-income levels groups. Additionally, an association was found between market incentives and willingness to sort and recycle waste in the low-income levels and high-income levels groups. The gender status of the participants had a moderating effect on the relationship between market incentives and willingness to sort and recycle waste in males and females. Additionally, the moderating effect of social influence on households’ willingness to sort and recycle waste was moderated by gender in males and females.
Highlights
Municipal solid wastes (MSWs) are generated from several sources in Saudi Arabia, with more than 80% concentrated in different urban areas
In Dammam city, the only active informal sector is derived from waste sorting and recycling materials such as metals, papers and plastic from different sources, which is highly economically useful; the recycling rate ranged from 10.5% to 15.5% [7]
But this study focused on the moderating effect of demographic factors, such as gender and income levels, on residents’ willingness to participate in sustainable handling practices in Dammam city
Summary
Municipal solid wastes (MSWs) are generated from several sources in Saudi Arabia, with more than 80% concentrated in different urban areas. The waste generation is concentrated in the three largest cities in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam), each with different physical characteristics. The Saudi Arabian government has channeled its direction towards minimizing solid waste disposal in landfilling by using waste management characterized by sorting and recycling [2,3,4]. In Dammam city, the government faces a big strain due to rapid increases in population growth, necessitating increases in municipal solid wastes. In Dammam city, the only active informal sector is derived from waste sorting and recycling materials such as metals, papers and plastic from different sources, which is highly economically useful; the recycling rate ranged from 10.5% to 15.5% [7]. Socio-psychological and external variables can be used to understand solid waste management behavior instead of landfilling in Abqaiq city [8,9,10,11]
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