Track: Waste Management

Abstract

Urbanisation and rapid development of the economy together with the enhancement of living standards has caused a dramatic increase in the generation of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). There are Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) strategies already implemented in Sri Lanka. But it is noticeable that most of those were failed due to relevant authorities are being unable to contemplate the cultural factors when implementing MSWM strategies. Thus, this paper intended to derive a culture-based solution to MSWM in Sri Lanka through a broad literature review. The paper synthesises values, attitudes and behaviours as the main cultural manifestations which describe the cultural context of MSWM. Consequently, it has been identified, among Sri Lankans, there are negative attitudes and behaviours while holding positive values. According to the literature findings, there is a hierarchical order of the aforesaid cultural manifestations, whereas behaviours are influenced by the attitudes while attitudes are influenced by values. Yet, through the attitudes and behaviours, the positive values in MSWM are not reflected, in which highlighting the urge of having a thorough study on the dynamisms in the hierarchy of value-attitude-behaviour in the Sri Lankan Context. Further, this paper discusses a cycle of value-attitude-behaviour hierarchy.