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Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management

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07-10-2022 | ORIGINAL ARTICLE

What makes residents more willing to participate in source separation of waste masks under the COVID-19 pandemic?

Authors: Kaihan Cai, Wenlei Zeng, Qingbin Song, Yangyang Liang, Shaohong Peng, Jiaqi Hu, Jinhui Li

Published in: Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management | Issue 1/2023

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Abstract

With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the generation of a large amount of medical waste brought a rude shock to the existing solid waste management system. Since masks constitute the most common household medical waste under the COVID-19 pandemic, their effective collection and treatment can significantly reduce the potential risks for secondary transmission, and this concern has attracted worldwide attention. Taking Macau City as a case study, this research tried to identify factors that can influence residents’ behavioral intentions toward the source separation of COVID-19 waste masks. The extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) model is used to examine the influence factors of the source separation behaviors of 510 respondents. The results show that the main factors that positively affected respondents’ behavioral intentions toward waste-mask source separation are: cognitive attitude, convenience, and perceived behavioral control, and among these, cognitive attitude has the highest influence. Subjective norm is also proved to be the weak factor to improving behavioral intention. Policy advocacy, and demographic variables have no significant effect on behavioral intention. The results of this study can help decision makers and managers formulate effective strategies to increase residents’ participation in the source separation of waste masks.

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Title: What makes residents more willing to participate in source separation of waste masks under the COVID-19 pandemic?
Authors: Kaihan Cai
Wenlei Zeng
Qingbin Song
Yangyang Liang
Shaohong Peng
Jiaqi Hu
Jinhui Li
Publication date: 07-10-2022
Publisher: Springer Japan
Published in: Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management / Issue 1/2023
Print ISSN: 1438-4957
Electronic ISSN: 1611-8227
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-022-01513-7

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