Assessment of College Students' Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Solid Waste Management in North Central Zone of Nigeria

Abstract

This study focused on assessment of colleges of education students' knowledge and attitudes towards solid waste management in the North-Central zone of Nigeria. The cross-sectional survey design was adopted. A Students' Knowledge and Attitudes towards Solid Waste Management Questionnaire was used to collect data from 1,800 students. The findings indicated that the students had a low knowledge level of solid waste management but their attitudes towards it were positive. A significant relationship was found between students' knowledge and their attitudes towards solid waste management. Furthermore, gender was shown not to have any significant influence on knowledge and attitudes of students towards solid waste management. It was concluded that although students had low knowledge of solid waste management, their attitudes towards it were positive. It was recommended that environmental education issues, especially, solid waste management should be incorporated into colleges of education curricula and properly taught for in-depth knowledge acquisition.