Exploration of the Impact of Religious Activities on Waste Management Behavior: An Analysis of the Understanding of Environmental Ethics

Abstract

Waste management is a serious problem in Indonesia. The government is unable to handle around 36% of waste problems. These problems demand serious public attention. The concrete form of the public’s serious concern is the emergence of ethical environmental behavior in waste management. This research aims to explore the impact of religious observance activities on waste management and its comparison with the behavior of the public. This research used a sociological descriptive qualitative approach with an ethnographic method. This research compared the waste management behaviors of two respondent groups. The first group consists of women who have received mentoring and training in waste management with economic value. The comparison group is women who are members of the Jamaah Ummahat Islamic organization of Qur’an recitation in a mosque. The results show that there is consistency and continuity in forming an understanding of environmental ethics in their teachings that is capable of changing environmentally ethical behavior in waste management. The religious sermon material is delivered with effective communication that is easily understood by the Jamaah Ummahat members.