Community Perceptions Towards Compositing Of Municipal Solid Waste In Pecekoro Village, Kajok Parish, Latek Subcounty In Gulu District

ABSTRACT

Rapid growth of businesses and population in and around Gulu town has

led to increased production of solid waste consequently giving rise to

increased volume of waste dumped in recipient communities. The most

attractive and environmentally friendly option to get rid of this huge pileup

of garbage and subsequent ones is through composting. The perceptions

of recipient communities are crucial to understanding how municipal solid

waste management problems might be resolved. Since Gulu municipality

still uses open dumping system of waste management, there is need to

compost this waste to reduce its volume and at the same time to provide

compost and other benefits associated with composting to the community.

The perceptions of communities in the dumping areas (recipient

communities) are likely to influence the start-up and performance of such

initiative. This study provides insights on how recipient community

perceptions affect composting of municipal solid waste in the dumping

areas of Gulu district. A structured questionnaire survey was

implemented in order to interview local residents in the dumping area. The

results showed that imparting municipal solid waste composting

knowledge to recipient communities enhances increased participation and

hence the amount of waste composted. The general perception is that

people are willing to compost if there are some prior benefits or incentives

given to them; otherwise it is feasible to compost in recipient communities.

Therefore any composting scheme introduced in the recipient

communities of Gulu must be accompanied by direct incentives from the

government or NGOs to motivate the people and at the same time to

mitigate some of the hindrances/constraints to composting.