Household Waste Management of the Communities in Ratchaburi Municipality, Ratchaburi Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to 1) investigate household waste management process, 2) explore success factors for household waste management, 3) create an effective model of household waste management, and 4) implement and evaluate the developed model of household waste management. Mix Methods was employed as the research design in the study. Qualitative data collection was conducted with the number of three-hundred-ninety-six household samples across thirty five communities in Ratchaburi Municipality, and the statistics used for the quantitative data analysis included percentage, mean, standard deviation, and Pearson’s Product moment correlation coefficient. Qualitative data collection was carried out by using interviews and a focus group discussion with twelve target participants chosen as representatives from general public, local administrators, experts, and entrepreneurs. The qualitative data were analyzed by using content analysis. The experiment of the model of household waste management was performed with thirty households in Ratchaburi Municipality area.

The results of the research revealed that 1) the efficiency of the household waste management process was at a high level overall, arranged in descending order of its aspects as follows: waste reduction, segregation, storage, and disposal, respectively; 2) the result of the relationship between success factors and the overall waste management process appeared positive and the correlation was shown in the same direction at a moderate level in all aspects, with a statistical significance level of 0.01.