3.1.2. Awareness of environmental and solid waste management
issues
In order to assess the varying levels of environmental awareness
between respondents from the different study areas, respondents
were asked to choose the top five environmental issues from a
possible twelve, and to score each one from 1 to 5 (with 5 rating
the highest in importance). The score averages for each issue were
calculated and are shown in Fig. 2. Overall, the average score was
3.2.
The most important issue was identified to be global warming.
There was no significant relationship between the study areas. It
was found that the high level of concern about global warming in
all of the study areas was due to recent TV programs on this subject.
Air pollution was also one of the main concerns in all study
areas with an average score of 3.0. Concerns regarding waste management
scored third in all areas except BKJ. Similar to the level
of concern relating to global warming, no significant relationships
were found between the areas and the scores. The overall score
average was 2.0. Although respondents in BKJ seemed to have less
concerns with regard to solid waste issues than those from other
areas, no significant difference was detected between BKJ and the
other areas according to a t-test, which indicated a 5% statistical
significance.
The levels of awareness concerning solid waste management
issues are shown in Fig. 3. The results show the calculated average
score. Scores pertaining to odor issues were the highest in all areas
with an average score of 3.3. The average percentage indicated