Assessment of Household Solid Waste Management Practice and Associated Factors in Debre Berhan Town, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: All over the world, countries are battling with waste management and governments are investing huge sums of money to tackle waste issues. Household solid wastes in Debre Berhan town are observed on the road, burning inside the village, and disposed of in sewerage. Objective: This study was aimed to assess the status of household solid waste management practice and associated factors in Debre Berhan town from March 1- March 30, 2020. Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study design was conducted in the household of Debre Berhan. Data was collected from 722 households, which were selected through multi-stage sampling from three kebeles. The Obtained data were entered using Epidata and finally analyzed using SPSS Version 21. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were done to identify the independent predictors of good solid waste management practice. Odds ratio with 95% confidence intervals and p-value <0.05 were used to assess the level of significance between determinant factors and the practice of solid waste management. Result: The majority of the households, 473(67.4%) solid waste management practice were poor. Age of the respondent (AOR = 4.9, 95% CI = 2.6-9.3 ), Educational level of the household heads (AOR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.32-0.92), Attitude of Household head on Solid waste management (AOR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.06-0.15), cleanup campaign participation (AOR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.39-0.95) and house ownership (AOR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.29-0.70) were significantly associated with household solid waste management practice in the study area. Conclusion and Recommendation: The current study revealed that solid waste management practice was poor. Educational level, homeownership, attitude, cleanup campaign participation, and attitude on solid waste management were found to be associated with solid waste management practice. The municipality should increase door-to-door solid waste collection service coverage, promote households on solid waste segregation, reuse, and proper disposal through continuous awareness creation campaigns and community-based programs.