Local community cooperation and participation in solid waste management activities in Hyderabad city: A quantitative survey

Abstract

Similar to other developing countries, Pakistan is also facing with roughly 50.79 million tons’ annual generation of solid waste with annual increase of 2.4 percent, which further makes situation more alarming. Hyderabad is the second most populated city in province of Sindh and a significant portion of Hyderabad's daily solid waste generation is about 4000 tones and only half of it is collected, however, due to lack of civic sense and awareness among local community, proper management of municipal waste or solid waste has become a big challenge for local government and other stakeholders. This paper aims to explore the perception/experience of frontline sanitary workers involved in managing solid waste in Hyderabad city about the community cooperation and participation in various activities related to waste management and green environment. Data were collected through face-to-face surveys using a five-point Likert scale under a simple random sampling design. The paper concluded that there is no any kind of cooperation and participation of community in managing solid waste in Hyderabad, and there is a dire need to initiate awareness campaigns for educating and sensitization of local community regarding the management, reduction of waste in Pakistan.