Influence of Socio-cultural Factors in Solid Waste Generation in Bida Town

Abstract

Waste generation rates vary across countries and cities due to differences in influencing factors. This study assesses the socio-cultural factors and the relationships between socio-cultural factors and solid waste generation in Bida. The study employed a quantitative approach with a structured questionnaire to assess seven (7) socio-cultural factors: geographic location, economic situation, beliefs, religion, urbanization, awareness, and practice. A total of 400 households were sampled using stratified random techniques based on traditional and modern settings in Bida town. Exploratory factor analysis was employed to analyse the factors that influenced waste generation. The relationship between these factors and waste generation was tested using Pearson correlation and regression analysis. The findings show that social factors such as "urbanization" (α > 0.894), "geographical location" (α > 0.757), "awareness" (α > 0.719), and "economic situation" (α = 0.791) as well as cultural factors such as "practice" (α = 0.798), "belief (α = 0.782), 'religion' (α = 0.715) influences solid waste generation in Bida. Also, "urbanization" (r =.124; p =.05), "awareness" (r =.197; p =.01), and the cultural factor "local practice" (r =.195; p =.01) were found to have weak and significant associations with solid waste generation in Bida. However, the relationship between variables was moderate (R =.290) and accounted for only 8.4% (R² =.084) of the variance in the waste generation rate in Bida.