Assessment of Household Waste Management and Hygienic Practice in Yirgalem Town, Dale Woreda, Sidama Zone, South Nation Nationalities and Peoples of Region, Ethiopia

Currently rapid rate of urbanization and the increasing income of people leads to the generation of high quantities of waste. This makes final disposal of waste difficult. Since urbanization is faster in developing and migrate peoples to a new, modern way of life, an improved level of awareness, new skill and a learning process, the problem is more acute in developing countries. This study aims is to assess household waste management and hygienic practice. Community based cross sectional study was employed to assess the household waste management and hygienic practice among residents of Kidist mariam kebele of Yirgalem town. A total of 316 households were selected from 1, 115 households using systematic random sampling. Data was collected through interview and observation. The study discovered that majority of the households, (36%) disposed solid wastes through municipality and 95.7% of households had temporary storage means for solid waste. About 94.3% of the respondents revealed that the responsibility of waste management is left for women and girls. 83.7% of households had latrines and almost majority were simple traditional pits latrine. From those households with latrine the habit of hand-washing after defecation was reported to be about 64.3%. This study revealed that household management of waste in the community of Yirgalem town is poor in terms of their liquid waste management. More than seventy five percent of households flush away their waste water indiscriminately. But it is moderately good in terms of their solid waste management. The habit of hand washing after defecation is significantly associated with the educational status of the respondents (P<0.05). Recommendation has been given to municipality to improve the waste management system of the town.