The influence of demographic variables to e-waste management practices in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tengku Adeline Adura Tengku Hamzah, Amirah Sariyati Mohd Yahya, Aziz Shafie

Abstract


E-waste is defined as electrical and electronic appliances that are no longer functioning, broken, obsolete or unwanted by the present owner and are ready to be discarded. The disposal of e-waste is a challenging task as it contains hazardous substances as well as the precious metals. This study seeks to investigate e-waste management practices among respondents based on their demographic background. A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted among 936 respondents in Kuala Lumpur, and questionnaires survey forms are used as research instrument. A statistical test was run to examine the relation of ten options of e-waste management practices to five demographic variables. The result has shown that respondents’ occupation is the most significantly related demographic variables to e-waste disposal practices compared to other demographic variables. Respondents that work in the private sector were reported to have the highest percentage for each e-waste disposal practices compared to other type of occupations. The factors that have led to this finding may be due to the working environment (which deals a lot with electrical and electronic appliances), as well as the exposure and information from wide range of sources. Overall, the e-waste disposal practices vary based on the demographic background. The output of this study is beneficial for decision makers and relevant agencies in creating an appropriate management actions and approach based on demographic background towards sustainable e-waste management in Malaysia.

 

Keywords: Environment, e-waste management, human health, Kuala Lumpur, practices, public


Keywords


Environment; e-waste management; human health; Kuala Lumpur; practices; public

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abeliotis, K., Christodoulou, D., & Lasaridi, K. (2006). Attitudes of consumers on E-waste management in Greece. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 92.

Afroz, R., Masud, M. M., Akhtar, R., & Duasa, J. B. (2013). Survey and analysis of public knowledge, awareness and willingness to pay in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – a case study on household WEEE management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 52, 185-193.

Akhtar, R., Masud, M. M., & Afroz, R. (2014). Household perception and recycling behaviour on electronic waste management: A case study of Kuala-Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Science, 33(1), 32-41.

Almasi, A., Mohammadi, M., Azizi, A., Berizi, Z., Shamsi, K., Shahbazi, A., & Mosavi, S. A. (2019). Assessing the knowledge, attitude and practice of the Kermanshahi women towards reducing, recycling and reusing of municipal solid waste. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 141, 329-338.

Amir, A. F., Ismail, M. N. I., & See, T. P. (2015). Sustainable tourist environment: Perception of international women travelers on safety and security in Kuala Lumpur. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 168, 123-133.

Babaei, A. A., Alavi, N., Goudarzi, G., Teymouri, P., Ahmadi, K., & Rafiee, M. (2015). Household recycling knowledge, attitudes and practices towards solid waste management. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 102, 94-100.

Balde, C. P., Forti, V., Gray, V., Kuehr, R., & Stegmann, P. (2017). The global e-waste monitor 2017: Quantities, flows and resources. United Nations University, International Telecommunication Union, and International Solid Waste Association.

Borthakur, A., & Govind, M. (2017). Emerging trends in consumers’ E-waste disposal behaviour and awareness: A worldwide overview with special focus on India. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 117, 102-113.

Darby, L., & Obara, L. (2005). Household recycling behaviour and attitudes towards the disposal of small electrical and electronic equipment. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 44(1), 17-35.

Echegaray, F., & Hansstein, F. V. (2017). Assessing the intention-behavior gap in electronic waste recycling: The case of Brazil. Journal of Cleaner Production, 142, 180-190.

Environmental Quality Act [Act 127]. (1974). Kuala Lumpur: Percetakan Nasional Malaysia Berhad.

George, F., Mapa, M. T., & Dinggai, M. S. A. (2019, June). Preliminary study on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) management by households in the Kota Kinabalu city. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 286, No. 1, p. 012023). IOP Publishing.

Ghani, W. A. W. A. K., Rusli, I. F., Biak, D. R. A., & Idris, A. (2013). An application of the theory of planned behaviour to study the influencing factors of participation in source separation of food waste. Waste management, 33(5), 1276-1281.

Haron, N. F. (2015). Determinants of E-Waste recycling in Putrajaya, Malaysia: An application of amos graphic. The International Journal of Social Sciences, 39(1), 1-5.

Haron, N. F., & Othman, M. S. (2016). Assessing service quality of e-waste recycling: A case study from Putrajaya, Malaysia. World Applied Sciences Journal, 35(9), 1874-1879.

Huang, P., Zhang, X., & Deng, X. (2006). Survey and analysis of public environmental awareness and performance in Ningbo, China: A case study on household electrical and electronic equipment. Journal of

Cleaner Production, 14(18), 1635-1643.

Jayaraman, K., Vejayon, S., Raman, S., & Mostafiz, I. (2019). The proposed e-waste management model from the conviction of individual laptop disposal practices-An empirical study in Malaysia. Journal of Cleaner Production, 208, 688-696.

Kalana, J. A. (2010). Electrical and electronic waste management practice by households in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. International Journal of Environmental Sciences, 1(2), 132.

Kasper, A. C., Gabriel, A. P., de Oliveira, E. L. B., de Freitas Juchneski, N. C., & Veit, H. M. (2015). Electronic waste recycling. In: Veit, H., Moura Bernardes, A. (eds) Electronic Waste (pp. 87-127). Topics in Mining, Metallurgy and Materials Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15714-6_9.

Liang, L., & Sharp, A. (2016). Determination of the knowledge of e-waste disposal impacts on the environment among different gender and age groups in China, Laos, and Thailand. Waste Management & Research, 34(4), 388-395.

Mahat, H., Hashim, M., Nayan, N., Saleh, Y., & Norkhaidi, S. B. (2019). E-waste disposal awareness among the Malaysian community. Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal, 11(3), 393-408.

Malik, N. K. A., Abdullah, S. H., & Manaf, L. A. (2015). Community participation on solid waste segregation through recycling programmes in Putrajaya. Procedia Environmental Sciences, 30, 10-14.

Maxis (n.d.). Maxis trade in: Trade in old device for a new one. https://www.maxis.com.my/en/devices/trade-in/

Milovantseva, N., & Saphores, J. D. (2013). E-waste bans and US households' preferences for disposing of their e-waste. Journal of environmental management, 124, 8-16.

Miner, K. J., Rampedi, I. T., Ifegbesan, A. P., & Machete, F. (2020). Survey on household awareness and willingness to participate in E-Waste management in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. Sustainability, 12(3), 1047.

Mohit, M. A., Ibrahim, M., & Rashid, Y. R. (2010). Assessment of residential satisfaction in newly designed public low-cost housing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Habitat international, 34(1), 18-27.

Nagajothi, P. G., & Felixkala, T. Electronic waste management: A. International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, 10(68), 2015.

New Straits Times. (2019). Reducing the impact of E-waste. https://www.nst.com.my/lifestyle/ bots/2019/09/525027/reducing-impact-e-waste

Portal Rasmi Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia (2019). Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur Sepintas Lalu. Putrajaya: Portal Rasmi Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia. https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/index.php?r=column/cone&menu_id=bjRlZXVGdnBueDJKY1BPWEFPRlhIdz09

Shumon, M. R. H., Ahmed, S., & Islam, M. T. (2014). Electronic waste: present status and future perspectives of sustainable management practices in Malaysia. Environmental earth sciences, 72(7), 2239-2249.

Sivathanu, B. (2016). User’s perspective: Knowledge and attitude towards e-waste. International Journal of Applied Environmental Science, 11(2), 413-423.

Song, Q., Wang, Z., & Li, J. (2012). Residents' behaviors, attitudes, and willingness to pay for recycling e-waste in Macau. Journal of environmental management, 106, 8-16.

Stoeva, K., & Alriksson, S. (2017). Influence of recycling programmes on waste separation behaviour. Waste Management, 68, 732-741.

Suja, F., Abdul Rahman, R., Yusof, A., & Masdar, M. S. (2014). E-waste management scenarios in Malaysia. Journal of Waste Management.

Tarawneh, A., & Saidan, M. (2013). Households awareness, behaviors, and willingness to participate in E-waste management in Jordan. International Journal of Ecosystem, 3(5), 124-131.

Tiep, H. S., Kin, T. D. Y., Ahmed, E. M., & Teck, L. C. (2015). E-Waste management practices of households in Melaka. International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, 6(11), 811.

Umair, S., Björklund, A., & Petersen, E. E. (2015). Social impact assessment of informal recycling of electronic ICT waste in Pakistan using UNEP SETAC guidelines. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 95, 46-57.

Vicente, P., & Reis, E. (2007). Segmenting households according to recycling attitudes in a Portuguese urban area. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 52(1), 1-12.

Vidanaarachchi, C. K., Yuen, S. T., & Pilapitiya, S. (2006). Municipal solid waste management in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka: Problems, issues and challenges. Waste Management, 26(8), 920-930.

Wang, R., & Xu, Z. (2014). Recycling of non-metallic fractions from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE): A review. Waste management, 34(8), 1455-1469.

Wang, Z., Zhang, B., Yin, J., & Zhang, X. (2011). Willingness and behavior towards e-waste recycling for residents in Beijing city, China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 19(9-10), 977-984.

Xiao, L., Zhang, G., Zhu, Y., & Lin, T. (2017). Promoting public participation in household waste management: A survey based method and case study in Xiamen city, China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 144, 313-322.

Yahya, A. S. M., Hamzah, T. A. T., & Shafie, A. B. (2020). Public Knowledge Regarding E-Waste Recycling in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Arab World Geographer, 23(2-3), 136-151.

Zhang, K., Schnoor, J. L., & Zeng, E. Y. (2012). E-waste recycling: where does it go from here?. Environmental Science & Technology, 46(20), 10861-10867.

Zhuang, Y., Wu, S. W., Wang, Y. L., Wu, W. X., & Chen, Y. X. (2008). Source separation of household waste: a case study in China. Waste management, 28(10), 2022-2030.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.