Submit your papersSubmit Now
For Enquiries: [email protected]
IIARD LogoIIARD

Determinants of Community Awareness and Willingness to Participate in Construction and Demolition Waste Management: A Multiple Regression Analysis from Delta State, Nigeria

Uduak Joseph Ekanem, and Thompson Seun Damilola

Abstract

Construction and demolition (C&D) waste poses significant environmental and public health risks in developing regions, yet community participation in its management remains critically low. This study identifies and quantifies the determinants of community awareness and willingness to participate in C&D waste management among residents living adjacent to informal C&D waste landfills in Delta State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey of 397 residents was conducted using a structured questionnaire measuring demographic variables, awareness of C&D hazards, prior health symptoms, trust in regulatory authorities, and willingness to participate. Multiple linear regression was employed with model diagnostics for multicollinearity and heteroscedasticity. The regression model explained 58.3% of variance in WTP (adjusted R2 = 0.578, F = 27.64, p < 0.001). Tertiary education was the strongest positive predictor (β = 0.412, p < 0.001), followed by prior health symptom count (β = 0.287, p = 0.003) and awareness score (β = 0.273, p < 0.001). Proximity to landfill within 500 m paradoxically reduced WTP (β = -0.235, p = 0.011). Trust in regulatory authorities was very low (mean = 1.98/5) and did not predict WTP (p = 0.346). Mediation analysis revealed that awareness partially mediated the education-WTP pathway (31.7% of effect mediated). Educational interventions targeting less-educated residents, personalized health risk communication, and community-based monitoring systems that bypass distrust of formal authorities are the most promising strategies for enhancing community participation in C&D waste management in Delta State.

Keywords

Construction and demolition waste; community participation; willingness to participate; multiple regression analysis; environmental health literacy

References

Adebayo, T. A., Ogunleye, O. S., & Adeleke, O. (2021). Community awareness and participation in construction waste management in southwestern Nigeria. Waste Management & Research, 39(4), 567–576. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X20988245 Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978 (91)90020-T Akhtar, A., & Sarmah, A. K. (2018). Construction and demolition waste generation and properties of recycled aggregate concrete: A global perspective. Journal of Cleaner Production, 186, 262–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.03.085 Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry . (2012). Toxicological profile for chromium. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Bamberg, S., & Möser, G. (2007). Twenty years after Hines, Hungerford, and Tomera: A new meta-analysis of psycho-social determinants of pro-environmental behaviour. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 27(1), 14–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2006.12.002 Brislin, R. W. (1986). The wording and translation of research instruments. In W. J. Lonner & J. W. Berry (Eds.), Field methods in cross-cultural research (pp. 137–164). Sage. Butera, S., Christensen, T. H., & Astrup, T. F. (2015). Life cycle assessment of construction and demolition waste management. Waste Management, 44, 196–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2015.07.011 Cochran, W. G. (1977). Sampling techniques (3rd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. Eze, C. P., & Okonkwo, C. N. (2020). Health complaints among residents adjacent to unlined waste dumpsites in Delta State, Nigeria. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2020, Article 8841234. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8841234 Finn, S., & O'Fallon, L. (2019). Environmental health literacy in low-resource settings. Reviews on Environmental Health, 34(2), 123–136. https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2018-0075 Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2019). Multivariate data analysis (8th ed.). Cengage. Harring, N., & Jagers, S. C. (2018). Why do people accept environmental policies? The role of trust in government and political ideology. Environmental Politics, 27(4), 647–668. Hayes, A. F. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis (2nd ed.). Guilford Press. Hines, J. M., Hungerford, H. R., & Tomera, A. N. (1987). Analysis and synthesis of research on responsible environmental behavior. The Journal of Environmental Education, 18(2), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.1987.9943482 Hunter, L. M., & Sutton, P. C. (2016). Proximity to hazardous waste sites and environmental concern. Social Science Quarterly, 97(3), 678–692. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12278 Kabirifar, K., Mojtahedi, M., Wang, C., & Tam, V. W. Y. (2020). Construction and demolition waste management contributing factors coupled with reduce, reuse, and recycle strategies for effective waste management: A review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 263, 121265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121265 Kormos, C., & Gifford, R. (2014). The validity of self-report measures of proenvironmental behavior: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 40, 359–371. Liu, X., Wang, Z., & Li, W. (2020). Determinants of public willingness to separate solid waste: A comparative study of Beijing and Shanghai. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 156, 104715. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104715 IJEMT Martinez-Alier, J. (2002). The environmentalism of the poor: A study of ecological conflicts and valuation. Edward Elgar. Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric theory (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill. Ogwu, I. J., & Ugwu, E. O. (2021). Quantification and characterization of construction and demolition waste in selected Nigerian cities. Nigerian Journal of Environmental Sciences and Technology, 5(1), 45–58. Onyia, C. C., & Nwankwo, C. A. (2019). Environmental governance challenges in the Niger Delta: A case study of Delta State. African Journal of Environmental Policy, 12(3), 210–229. Rosenstock, I. M. (1974). Historical origins of the health belief model. Health Education Monographs, 2(4), 328–335. https://doi.org/10.1177/109019817400200403 Seligman, M. E. P. (1972). Learned helplessness. Annual Review of Medicine, 23, 407–412. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.me.23.020172.002203 Slovic, P. (2007). 'If I look at the mass I will never act': Psychic numbing and genocide. Judgment and Decision Making, 2(2), 79–95. Uche, O. A., & Ogbonna, C. E. (2022). Heavy metal contamination of groundwater near construction waste landfills in the Niger Delta. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 194, Article 345. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-09989-4 Wilson, D. C., Rodic, L., Scheinberg, A., Velis, C. A., & Alabaster, G. (2012). Comparative analysis of solid waste management in 20 cities. Waste Management & Research, 30(9), 237–254. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X12437569 Xu, L., Ling, M., Lu, Y., & Shen, M. (2017). Understanding household waste separation behaviour: Testing the roles of moral, past experience, and perceived policy effectiveness within the theory of planned behaviour. Sustainability, 9(4), 625. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9040625 Zelezny, L. C., Chua, P. P., & Aldrich, C. (2000). Elaborating on gender differences in environmentalism. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 443–457.

More Articles from INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING AND MODERN TECHNOLOGY