Change in awareness of waste reduction as observed among female students attending the a college of nursing

Abstract

We conducted a survey from 1999 to 2004 of female students attending a college of nursing, regarding their awareness of the municipal waste reduction policy as well as the problems caused by dioxins. The questionnaire survey showed that over the six years a majority of students supported a stricter waste-sorting policy. The students were willing to sort waste in more minute details. Only a handful of students was aware of the municipal government's waste-reduction campaign. Furthermore, the students' awareness regarding problems caused by dioxins was high, but decreased from 94.7% in 1999 to 76.5% in 2004, with more than 90.0% of the students recognizing that it is necessary to reduce the total amount of waste in order to decrease dioxin emission from incineration plants.