The determinants of individuals’ waste separation intention in an urbanizing city: A case study of Hanoi, Vietnam

Abstract

Examining and understanding the underlying factors influencing individuals' waste separation intention and behaviour is important for the effective management of urban waste. This study applies the theory of planned behaviour to determine factors affecting residents' waste separation intention by means of a social survey and semi-structured interviews with a sample size of 192 households in Nguyen Du ward (Hanoi, Vietnam). In addition, this study includes several influential factors in its analytic framework, such as moral norms, past behaviour, trust, perceived difficulties, and sociodemographic variables. The study findings indicate that two psychological factors— attitude and subjective norms— positively influence residents' waste separation intention. However, residents' age is the only sociodemographic variable to impact their waste separation intention. Moreover, this study's results show that waste separation intention correlates with waste separation behaviour. Based on the obtained results, this study recommends that the local government should concentrate on promoting subjective norms by creating an atmosphere of public participation in waste separation practices. Furthermore, policies targeting environmental education and engaging youth participation, in addition to older groups, should continually engage in waste separation activities.