Influencing Factors on Waste Sorting Behaviour at Soran University in Kurdistan, Iraq

Abstract

In this work, the effect of age, gender, monthly income, and education level on the waste sorting behavior (WSB) of 163 employees and students at the Soran University of Kurdistan in Iraq was investigated. Also, respondents' opinions were collected regarding government policies for waste sorting (WS) and increasing people's awareness. The results showed that WSB improves with age. Also, women categorize garbage more than men. No significant correlation was observed between monthly income and education level with WSB. Although 77% of the respondents are willing to participate in WS activities, only 28% of them sort their waste. They consider the main reason for not separating waste to be the lack of special facilities for WS and recycling in most areas of Kurdistan, and few people consider WS tiring and timeconsuming. 75% of the respondents believe that the government's efforts to increase the environmental awareness of citizens are insufficient. This result is consistent with the fact that WS is an unconventional behaviour in Kurdistan.