An assessment of environmental awareness on sustainable solid waste management in Lusaka: A case of Kaunda Square Township

The topic of research was an assessment of environmental awareness on solid wastes management in Lusaka; the case study of Kaunda Square Township. The problem being addressed by this study is the environmental awareness on solid waste in Kaunda Square. The General Objective of the study was to investigate the levels of environmental awareness on sustainable solid wastes management in Lusaka. Case of Kaunda Square. Specific Objectives; l.To determine Kaunda Square residents' awareness of an environmental program on solid waste management; 2.To investigate Kaunda Square residents' participation in environmental awareness program. Research Questions; 1. What is the awareness level of solid waste management among the residents of Kaunda Square? In this research questionnaires were administered to ninety one sampled households in Kaunda Square Compound. A total number of ninety one respondents were interviewed using the Household Questionnaire. Out of ninety one respondents, forty four were female and forty seven male. This represented forty eighty and fifty two respectively. The total number of sampled Kaunda Square residents only three (3) confirmed the existence of environmental awareness programs in the area and this represents 3.2% of the total respondents. Community participation in Kaunda Square is very low. Only about 5% claimed to be involved in the environmental education awareness in Solid Waste management activities in the township. The research discovered that 95% were not involved and this is a significant number and the study also indicated that only 27% of the residents were aware of the law used in SWM whilst the remaining 73% were not aware. The study also showed that 89% of the Solid Waste produced was organic. The Lusaka City Council (LCC) needs to review the 2003 Solid Waste Management Strategy to take into account the recent trends. LCC should not only have good environmental education awareness plans but should also allocate financial resources for effective implementation. LCC to encourage the culture of recycling and reuse of Solid Wastes at Household level . LCC to ensure enforcement of the Law with stiffer penalties;
Conclusively, the research has shown that environmental awareness on solid waste in Kaunda Square was very low.