Solid Waste: Preliminary Study on Benefits of Engaging Students in Research Project using Citizen Science

Nurul Ain Zulhaimi, Siti Aishah Ramli, Siti Nurul Aishah A. Hamid, Romzi Ationg

Solid waste, one of the main environmental concerns contributes to various health and other environmental problems. The awareness of solid waste issues is the prerequisite in attitude changes toward the reduction and management of waste. By using the citizen science approach, with some modification, students who involved in designated project had been expected to develop a sense of responsibility towards their waste. Students are required to do interviews, then calculated the amount of waste generated on the campus and identified recyclable and non-recyclable items. The data collected had shown that the main contributor to solid waste on the campus was food waste and followed by paper, plastics, aluminium cans and glass whereas the number of recyclable items was 62.5%. The interview data showed the lack of awareness and knowledge among the campus community in regard to the waste issues. However, the students have gained benefits by doing the project because they were the one who collected the wastes and interviewed the respondents. It also revealed that students got many potential and interesting ideas regarding the waste issue if they were given the opportunities.