Willingness to Participate and Ability to Separate
Amazingly, 95.40% of the respondents were willing to source separate solid waste whilst 4.6% thought otherwise (figure 2). The high percentage of people willing to partake was probable due to the explanation given to them on the benefits of source separation to the existing solid waste management system. People seem not to be happy with the existing management system and wanted to say that if source separation was the answer to the solid waste challenges facing the metropolis and the country, then they were willing to help solve the problem. Questions on the ability to source separate solid waste was intended to find out if householders knew the differences between the components of the waste stream they generate so as to increase separation efficiency. 68.20% of respondents knew the difference between biodegradable waste and plastics with
83.64% having an idea of the differences between paper and plastics. In some areas, monitors of computers were considered to be plastics with central processing units as metals.
The level of understanding of the differences in components of the waste stream was relatively weaker in low income but densely populated areas than the middle-to-high income areas. Most householders in low income areas considered silt as part of biodegradable solid waste. A carefully planned educational program on the differences between the various components of solid waste streams would be beneficial to the cause of an efficient and sustainable source separation system in the near future. Householders who were unwilling to participate were not convinced of the fact that source separation was the way forward to solving the solid waste management challenges of the metropolis. Various reasons ranging from incompetent to corrupt authorities and lack of planning were given as the main solid waste management problems.