KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE ON WASTE MANAGEMENT AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

Environmental issues are everyone's concern and effective waste management is essential for
sustainable lifestyle. To find out how students view waste management in their everyday lives
a study was conducted among students of the Universiti Malaya in Malaysia. A quantitative
survey method was adopted and questionnaires were distributed in the main campus of the
university. The questionnaires aimed at establishing students' knowledge, attitude and practice
regarding waste management. The study used descriptive analysis and employed PLS SEM to
test a few related hypotheses. Results show that the students who scored highly on knowledge
and attitude toward waste management fared poorly on the sustainable waste management
practice. Significant relationships were found between knowledge and attitude, between
knowledge and practice, between attitude and practice as well as the mediating role of attitude
on the relationship between knowledge and practice in waste management.