title: Public perception of hazardousness caused by current trends of municipal solid waste management.
abstract: Municipal solid waste (MSW) piling up is becoming a serious problem in all developing countries (DC) as a result of inequitable waste collection and treatment. Citizens' collaboration is partly based on understanding their views and their active involvement in MSW planning; on the other hand the assessment of the perception of hazardousness related with MSW is considered rather important as well since the identification of the weak points of the applied MWM strategy is eased and the level of required training is determined. Researchers implemented a case study in the West Bank (WB) and Gaza Strip (GS) regions of Palestine, taking into consideration previous researches in other developing countries. They reached to safe and useful conclusions regarding the parameters which mean the greatest in the waste management field as far as DC are concerned. Lack of skilled manpower, irregular collection services, inadequate equipment used for waste collection, inadequate legal provisions, and resource constraints are additional factors that are confirmed to be challenging the waste management scenarios in all DCs today. The research takes those factors under consideration but focuses on the educational gap and the results revealed interesting trends a significant relationship between respondent's educational attainment and their awareness of hazardous waste (hazard perception); the results will indicate the measure taking required to avoid accidents occurred in those regions (burns from toxics, cuts from sharps, etc). National policy and legislation development based on the research outcomes will ensure equitable and accessible services are in place in order to move towards a healthier environment. Specialized health education and training programs on national scale are also needed to enhance awareness on hazardous waste.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental and Water Studies, Birzeit University, Birzeit, Palestine. Electronic address: ikhatib@birzeit.edu.
authors.forename: Issam A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Al-Khatib
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering, Dpt. of Mechanical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Box 483, 54006 Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Stamatia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kontogianni
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Graduate Studies, Birzeit University, Birzeit, Palestine.
authors.forename: Hendya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abu Nabaa
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Graduate Studies, Birzeit University, Birzeit, Palestine.
authors.forename: Ni'meh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alshami
authors.affiliation: The Joint Services Council for Solid Waste Management for Hebron and Bethlehem Governorates (JSC-H&B), West Bank, Palestine.
authors.forename: Majed I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Al-Sari'
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D006256:Hazardous Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D008877:Middle East; D011639:Public Opinion; D062611:Solid Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D006256:Hazardous Waste; D062611:Solid Waste
keywords: Developing countries; Hazardous waste; Municipal solid waste; Occupied Palestinian territory