Nexus between perceptions of urban environmental planning and solid waste management practices in Debre Markos Town, Amhara Region, Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Lack of integration between urban environmental planning and solid waste management is a challenge for cities in developing countries. The aim of the research was to analyze the nexus between local communities’ perceptions of urban environmental planning and solid waste management practices in Debre Markos Town, Northwest Ethiopia. The study applied a binary logistic regression approach to identify the factors that influence local communities’ perceptions about urban environmental planning and solid waste management practices. Results show that education level, family size, income and availability of safe disposal sites are statistically significant (either at P < 0.01 or P < 0.05) predictors of local communities’ perceptions. The challenges and prospects of urban environmental management were varied and rated from least to very big by respondents. Lack of commitment is reported at 41% as a very big challenge and at 43% as a big challenge of urban environmental management. The paper concludes by proposing proper implementation of the integration of solid waste management and urban environmental planning for sustainable urban development.

Key words:

• binary logistic regression
• solid waste management
• perceptions
• urban environmental planning

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank the University of Gondar for financial support to the first author for her MA thesis grant. We also thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers. Moreover, we thank the sample respondents for the valuable information they gave us.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by University of Gondar: [Grant Number MA Thesis grant].