Public Perception and Concern Towards Solid Waste Management: A Case Study of Mangaluru City, India

Abstract Rapid increase in Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generation and varying characteristics is posing great threat to most of the cities across the globe. The present paper deals with evaluation of current status of Municipal Solid Waste Management System (MSWMS) in Mangaluru, and explores the perception, opinion and attitude of the citizens. In view of the present study, a feedback survey from 410 valid respondents representing separate households was collected. The statistics of the data were analyzed using SPSS and MS Excel tools. It is evident from the results that, the existing solid waste management practice does not match the anticipation of the citizens and involvement of the citizens in the solid waste management is not satisfactory. The major findings of the survey reveal that, there is a need for improvement of solid waste management of Mangaluru with active participation of citizens, policy makers and all stakeholders.