Students’ perceptions and inclination towards solid waste segregation for circular economy in Krobo municipalities of Ghana: awareness, willingness and potential determinants

This study assessed students’ awareness and inclination towards solid waste segregation for recycling and the potential determinants of student’s willingness to participate in waste segregation initiative in the future. The objective was to obtain vital information that can be used in planning for implementation of solid waste segregation for circular economy in schools in the Yilo Krobo and Lower Manya Krobo Municipals in southeastern Ghana. Using semi-structured questionnaire, 1656 students were randomly selected and interviewed across secondary and tertiary schools in the two municipalities for data collection and analysis. Awareness among students about solid waste segregation, including the benefits associated with the practices, was high. Basically, the majority of the students were willing to participate in any solid waste segregation projects in the future if (i) waste bins are located in their classrooms, (ii) clear instruction is indicated on waste bins and/or (iii) students are educated on waste segregation practices. Almost all the students were willing for their schools to pay for collection and recycling of their segregated solid wastes. However, ordinal logistic regression analysis revealed that placing well-labelled waste bins within schools is the most significant determinant to increase students’ willingness to segregate wastes for the intended initiatives.