Influence of Socio-Economic Factors on Household Solid Waste Generation: A Sociological Study

Abstract

Waste is an unavoidable byproduct of human society. Industrialization, density of population and urbanization has greatly increased the generation of household solid waste in rural and urban areas. The density of population also has direct effect on available resources and contributes to the large quantity of household solid waste generation. The main objective of the present research is to analyze the socio-economic factors influence on household waste generation in rural areas of Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu. The data are collected from 439 rural women through structured interview schedule technique in Cheranmahadevi block. The study shows that more number of the women respondents generates below three kilograms of household solid waste per week and the highest generation of household solid waste is by the marginal 6.6 per cent of the women respondents selected for the study. The result also reveals that only thirty one per cent of women know about composting and its benefits. Thus the study suggests there is a need for concerned officials and non-officials to engage residents of rural areas to create awareness about composting of bio-degradable waste.