Perceptions and Attitudes to Waste Disposal: An Assessment of Waste Disposal Behaviors in the Tamale Metropolis

The study was done in the Northern Region of Ghana (Tamale metropolis) in 2012. Primary data on waste collection and management were collected at the household level (210 households) using questionnaires based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TORA) construct. Secondary data was also collected from records of Zoom-lion Ghana Limited as well as the Tamale Municipal Waste Management Department. The TORA model was employed to evaluate how perceptions and attitudes of households influenced disposal of solid waste and willingness to pay (WTP). Overall, attitude of households had strong influence on the intention to use collection bins in future. On the other hand, social referents had no influence on the intention to use collection bins. Neither the overall attitude nor subjective norms of households had influence on their intention to use open pit as a method of solid waste disposal. Overall, attitude of households had stronger influence on their intention to pay for solid waste collection than the subjective norms. Households are willing to pay an average amount of GH ¢4.0 monthly, which is subject to the type of job or income earned by the household heads. Keywords: Solid waste, household, willingness to pay, attitude, subjective norm