Awareness of rural women of Punjab regarding pollution causing and environmentally safe waste disposal practices

Abstract

Household waste disposal practices are main source of pollution. Rural folk dispose their waste in open areas due to lack of awareness about their consequences. Some practices were identified to check their awareness about these practices. The present study was conducted to find out the awareness regarding pollution causing and environmentally safe waste disposal practices in three regions of Punjab i.e. Majha, Malwa and Doaba. For this purpose, 240 rural women of district Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur and Ludhiana were selected. Data were collected through interview schedule. The study findings revealed that large majority of respondents (91.67 per cent) were aware regarding open drainage of water is source of pollution followed by 87.33 per cent regarding burning of waste and plastic in open air causes pollution. Data regarding environmentally safe waste disposal practices showed that large majority of respondents were aware that selling of electrical waste (90%), disposal in closed container (87.08 %) and faecal matter disposal in pakka pits (80%) are safe disposal practices for environment. About eighty per cent of respondent had high level of awareness. Age, education, mass media exposure, family education and family size were significantly correlated with level of awareness. Although the women had awareness about pollution causing practices but they don’t know the alternatives and management strategies to control pollution.