Relationship between People Participation and Waste Management in Klongjed Subdistrict Administrative Organization, Khlong Luang District, Pathum Thani Province

Abstract

Background and Aims: Due to the rapid changes and developments in Thailand, both in terms of economy and society, the agricultural society has transformed into an industrial society. The expansion of urban society in the past few years has changed the way of life of Thai people due to their consumption behavior, living conditions, and daily life, with the popularity of ordering food online for convenience, as well as changes in business models for selling goods and products, all of which are driving factors that have increased the amount of community waste. Although such behaviors have positive effects in terms of the economy and the environment, they have increased waste. As well, in order for the management of waste within communities/villages to achieve the set goals effectively and efficiently, it is necessary to promote public participation in waste management continuously and sustainably. This research is a quantitative research with the following objectives: 1) Study the public participation and waste management in the area of ​​Khlong Chet Subdistrict Administrative Organization, Khlong Luang District, Pathum Thani Province; 2) Study the relationship between public participation and waste management in the area of ​​Khlong Chet Subdistrict Administrative Organization, Khlong Luang District, Pathum Thani Province.

Methodology: This research is a quantitative research design. The sample group used in this research is people living in 9 villages in Khlong Chet Subdistrict, Khlong Luang District, Pathum Thani Province. The sample size to represent the people was calculated using Taro Yamane's calculation method at a 95% confidence level, which set the sampling error value at 0.05. The results showed that there were 381 samples. In this research, the researcher used stratified sampling, which is a random sampling method that divides the population into communities/villages. It is a probability sampling method that allows all people to have the opportunity to be selected as representatives of the population used in the study. The research instrument was a questionnaire. The researcher presented the developed questionnaire to three experts to find the content validity or the consistency between the questions and the research objectives (IOC). The revised questionnaire was then tested with a population with characteristics similar to the sample group to be studied and then analyzed to find the reliability value using Cronbach's alpha coefficient formula (Cronbach, 1990: 202-204). The questionnaire for this research had an alpha coefficient value of 0.85. The statistics used for data analysis were percentage, mean, standard deviation, and Pearson's correlation coefficient.

Results: 1) The public participation in waste management is at a moderate level overall. It was found that the participation in operations has the highest average value, followed by participation in decision-making, participation in receiving benefits, and participation in monitoring and evaluation, respectively. 2) The public's waste management according to the 5R principle is at a moderate level overall. The average value in each aspect, from highest to lowest, is as follows: Repair or fix has the highest average value, followed by reuse, avoiding the use of materials that are difficult to destroy, reprocessing and reusing, and reducing the use of unnecessary items, respectively. 3) The relationship between public participation and waste management in the area of ​​Khlong Chet Subdistrict Administrative Organization, Khlong Luang District, overall has a moderate relationship with a statistical significance level of 0.05, with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.536, which is in accordance with the hypothesis. When considering the correlation coefficient in each aspect, it was found that the participation in operations has the highest average value, followed by participation in decision making, participation in obtaining benefits, and participation in monitoring and evaluation, respectively.

Conclusion: Public participation is related to solid waste management according to the 5R principle. It can be seen that solid waste management requires cooperation from all parties in the community/village. Therefore, the public should be created and encouraged to see the importance and necessity of participating in solving problems and managing problems through the participation process. This is because the participation process will help to solve the problem of solid waste management in the community/village continuously and sustainably.