Waste management practices of urban and rural school pupils in Malaysia

Solid waste management is fast becoming a problem. In Malaysia, most of the waste sent to landfills is generated from households, particularly in the urban areas. This study explores the waste disposal and waste management practice of 351 urban and rural secondary school pupils. The questionnaire used in this survey consists of 30 items referring to waste disposal, waste management, composting and vermicomposting. Certain environmental friendly practices appear to occur more frequently among rural pupils compared to urban ones. Such practices include composting, vermicomposting which are being used in planting and to increase soil fertility. However, the rural pupils demonstrate more indiscriminate waste disposal practices compared to their urban counterpart. There are also more rural pupils who burn or bury their waste compared to urban pupils. Nevertheless the majority of each of the two groups generate a lot of waste and less than half of them practice separation and reduction of waste.