Effects of Socio-economic and Demographic Factors on Household Solid Waste Generation in Selected Urban Estates in Kisumu City, Kenya

Abstract

The study sought to establish the association between socio-economic and demographic factors and the amount of household solid waste (HSW) generated in selected urban estates in Kisumu city, Kenya. The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive design. The study was conducted in Kisumu city and it targeted households in selected urban estates. Three estates representing three socio-economic groups; High Income (Milimani), Middle Income (Migosi), Low Income (Obunga) were selected through multi-stage simple random sampling. A stratified proportionate random sample of 368 households was selected from a study population of 8651 households. Household survey questionnaires and Direct Waste Weighing were the main instruments for data collection. Pearson moment product correlation coefficient was used to measure the strength and direction of association between household size, household monthly income, household monthly expenditure on food and age of the household head and the amount of HSW generated monthly in kilograms. The amount of HSW generated was 54Kgs/household/month, 36Kgs/household/month and 31.5Kgs/household/month for high, middle and low income socio-economic groups respectively. Results from the high income socio-economic group revealed that the amount of HSW generated monthly was strongly positively associated with household monthly income(r ⁼ 0.939), household size(r ⁼0.921),household monthly expenditure on food ( r=0. 973) and age of the household head (r= 0.939).In the middle income, socio-economic group the amount of HSW generated monthly was strongly positively correlated with household monthly income (r ⁼ 0.938), household size (r=0.977), household monthly expenditure on food ( r=0. 990) and age of the household head (r= 0.876). In the low income, socio-economic group the amount of HSW generated monthly was strongly positively correlated with household monthly income (r= 0.981), household size (r=0.957), household monthly expenditure on food (r=0. 931) and age of the household head (r= 0.920). The findings of this study revealed that the association between household size, household monthly income, household monthly expenditure on food and age of the household head and the amount of HSW generated monthly is strong and positive across high, middle and low income socio-economic groups thus socio-economic and demographic factors are important in understanding quantities of HSW.