School of Spatial Planning and Development, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.
School of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.
Sci Total Environ. 2024 Dec 15;956:177356. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177356. Epub 2024 Nov 6.
Appropriate solid municipal waste management is an important topic in the EU. Abiding by the amended EU Waste Framework Directive and the amended EU Landfill Directive, Greece has set ambitious goals for waste reuse and recycling and for landfill minimization in its recent National Waste Management Plans. These goals however can only be reached through the improvement of the mixed recyclable waste scheme (the "blue bin" scheme for paper/carton, plastic and metal) and the establishment of collection containers for separate waste streams (separately for biodegradable waste, for glass, for paper/carton and for the rest). Active participation of citizens in waste source separation is paramount for this program. As such, the determinants that favor waste source separation intention were measured in approximately 1600 residents in the city of Thessaloniki in Northern Greece, through the application of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The determinant of Moral Norms (MN) was included in the basic model [that contains the determinants Attitude (ATT), Subjective Norms (SN) and Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC)]. Each determinant was measured through four or five declarations while the Behavioral Intention (BI) contained ten subsections. The model was able to satisfactorily predict the intention of the respondents to perform waste source separation. Specifically, the model successfully predicted respondents' intention to engage in waste source separation, explaining 36 % of the variance, indicating that a moderate amount of variance can be explained by the constructs. There was a significant direct effect of ATT (β = 0.486, p < 0.001), SN (β = 0.091, p < 0.05), and PBC (β = 0.091, p < 0.05) on BI. Additionally, MN showed statistically significant mediating effects; a mediating effect on BI via ATT (β = 0.479; p < 0.01), via SN (β = 0.046; p = 0.015), and via PBC (β = 0.057; p = 0.017) was noted. Implications of these results on waste separation policies include the following: launching comprehensive public education campaigns to reshape positive attitudes, improving infrastructure to strengthen the real or perceived behavioral control of citizens experience, increasing "peer pressure" via community engagement activities, such as recycling workshops, clean-up drives, and competitions. The important role of moral obligations in the community should be underlined and it may be the long-term key solution; educational programs and campaigns should emphasize the moral obligation of waste separation and integrating environmental ethics into school programs can instill these values from a young age.
适当的固体废物管理是欧盟的一个重要议题。为遵守经修订的《欧盟废物框架指令》和经修订的《欧盟堆填区指令》，希腊在其最近的国家废物管理计划中为废物再利用和回收以及尽量减少堆填区设定了雄心勃勃的目标。然而，只有通过改进混合可回收废物计划（纸/卡纸箱、塑料和金属的“蓝色垃圾桶”计划）和建立单独废物流的收集容器（可生物降解废物、玻璃、纸/卡纸箱和其余部分）才能实现这些目标。公民积极参与废物源头分类是该计划的关键。因此，通过应用计划行为理论（TPB），在希腊北部塞萨洛尼基市的大约 1600 名居民中测量了有利于废物源头分类意图的决定因素。基本模型中包含道德规范（MN）决定因素[包含态度（ATT）、主观规范（SN）和感知行为控制（PBC）决定因素]。每个决定因素通过四项或五项声明进行测量，而行为意图（BI）包含十个小节。该模型能够令人满意地预测受访者进行废物源头分类的意图。具体来说，该模型成功地预测了受访者参与废物源头分类的意图，解释了 36%的方差，表明可以通过这些结构来解释相当一部分的方差。ATT（β=0.486，p<0.001）、SN（β=0.091，p<0.05）和 PBC（β=0.091，p<0.05）对 BI 有显著的直接影响。此外，MN 显示出具有统计学意义的中介效应；通过 ATT（β=0.479；p<0.01）、SN（β=0.046；p=0.015）和 PBC（β=0.057；p=0.017）对 BI 产生中介效应。这些结果对废物分离政策的影响包括以下几点：开展全面的公众教育运动，以重塑积极的态度，改善基础设施，加强公民实际或感知的行为控制，通过社区参与活动（如回收工作坊、清理活动和竞赛）增加“同侪压力”。应强调社区中道德义务的重要作用，这可能是长期的关键解决方案；教育计划和运动应强调废物分离的道德义务，并将环境伦理纳入学校课程，可以从小就灌输这些价值观。
