FACTORS INFLUENCING SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN BUDAKA TOWN COUNCIL, BUDAKA DISTRICT.

Abstract

Introduction: Management of solid waste is still a challenge facing urban authorities in Uganda and Budaka Town council is no exception. The town council has been beset with difficulties associated with indiscriminate solid waste management. This is evidenced in diarrheal diseases prevalence, which ranks highest in the Town. Females and children below five years being the most affected groups. The Town Council invested a lot in proper solid waste management; however, there were no direct results to this effect. Objective: The main objective of the study was to assess factors influencing solid waste management in Budaka Town council, Budaka district in order to provide stakeholders with information that would be used to design appropriate interventions towards proper solid waste management. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study design using quantitative methods was designed. Multi stage sampling procedure was used to obtain villages and households. The numbers of households per village were selected proportionately to size based on local registers. A total of 385 households were randomly selected. A structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data and an observational checklist to collect qualitative data. Data was filed, edited and coded before entry into Epi-Info software. Data was then cleaned before analysis. Analysis included counts, percentages and frequencies. Results: Majority of the respondents 70.3% (271/385) were females and more than half 52.2% (201/385) of them were above 30 years of age, with a mean of 32.7 years. About 74.5% (287/385) of the study respondents knew what solid waste was. Over quarter of study respondents, 27.0% (104/385) didn’t know any method of solid waste management. In addition, 84.2% (324/385) agreed that it was the town council’s responsibility to keep their place clean. Just above half 51.2% (197/385) of study respondents had waste receptacle, 73.0% (281/385) reported that the local council was the responsible body for waste collection and disposal and 56.6% (218/385) reported that solid waste collection and disposal was done on a weekly basis. Only 8.6% (33/385) of study respondents reported to separate waste. Conclusions: There were generally high knowledge levels of study respondents’ solid waste management; a significant number didn’t know any proper solid waste management option. There were generally good attitudes and bad practices like not having waste receptacle and non-segregation of waste. There should be intensive health education and sensitization of households regarding solid waste management.