Assessing the Level of Community Participation in Solid Waste Management in Bushenyi - Ishaka Municipality, Bushenyi District.

Abstract

The study involved assessing the level of community participation in solid waste management in Bushenyi-Ishaka municipality in Bushenyi District. Improving the SWM in Bushenyi-Ishaka municipality will improve environmental sanitation. An immediate and cheap management system is therefore urgently required since fund allocation is too small for SWM in the municipality. This study was therefore aimed at examining the present situation on the level of community involvement and suggesting ways of greater community participation in solid waste management in the municipality. The study was carried out in the two divisions of Central and Ishaka out of the three divisions that make up Bushenyi-Ishaka municipality. The third division, Nyakabirizi, was used as a testing ground for the questionnaire which was employed as the data collection tool for this study. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data collected. A total of 384 heads of households in the Central and Ishaka divisions of Bushenyi-Ishaka municipality took part in this study. The results showed that the monthly income, religious affiliation and ownership of house of the participants were all significant in the way they participate in SWM since the p-value was below 0.05 in all cases. The sex of the participant had no significant effect on how the participant participated in SWM. However, the age group, marital status, education level and occupation of the participant all had a significant effect on how they participated in SWM. Public participation, adequate funding, enforcement of regulation and public enlightenment are some of the recommendations made from the study.