Survey on the factors and social perspectives to participate in home composting schemes in Palestine: Anabta case study

Abstract

In this study, a survey was conducted to determine the public opinion regarding the acceptance of using home composters as an alternative approach for household organic waste management. This approach is introduced as a method to replace the landfilling of organic municipal solid waste, which is the main solid waste management currently employed in Palestine, considering Anabta town as a case study. The results showed that people in the target area are welcoming of the home composting idea, and about 99% of participants are interested in owning home composters at their properties, which is regarded as a good reference for implementing the proposed home composting scheme in this area. The results showed that people are interested in the new proposed scheme for organic household waste despite their minimal knowledge and understanding about the composting process's importance and effects. The survey tested the people's expectations and thoughts about the home composting concept and found that the main motives for home composting were reducing the cost of house gardening and using the produced compost in soil nutrition, besides being part of environmental sustainability. On the other side, obstacles were due to people's inexperience of the home composting method, as almost half of participants were expecting an exhausting, long process to produce compost, with the related bad smell and insects during composting progression. Hence, the study found that it is important to spread awareness about the right procedures to apply home composting among participants, in line with environmental awareness campaigns through social media, and provide personalized follow-up with participants.