Influence of Socio-Economic Factors of Residents of Informal Settlements on their Choice of Waste Disposal Method: Evidence from Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper investigated residents in a representative informal settlement located in Lagos, Nigeria. It sought to determine whether residents’ socio-economic characteristics influence their choice of waste disposal method. Based on literature reviewed twenty socio-economic variables were selected and subjected to standard multiple regression using SPSS version 20. Results revealed that the model comprising of the socio-economic characteristics investigated explained only14% of the variance in choice of household waste disposal methods. The findings thus suggest that the socio-economic characteristics of residents in the study area, collectively and individually, contributed very little in their choice of waste disposal method. Only six of the variables, namely number of households sharing same building with respondents (.001); number of children below eighteen years (.004); employment structure (.004); income (.014); number of wives of household heads (.016); and house type (.037), made statistically significant unique contributions to explaining the choice of waste disposal method by residents in the study area. The number of households sharing same building with respondents contributed the strongest with standardized beta coefficient of -.149 followed by number of children below eighteen years (-.125), employment structure (-.109) and income (-.107). The fact that the socio-economic factors accounted for 14 percent of the variance in choice of waste disposal method implies that some other factors account for residents’ choice of waste disposal methods. Nevertheless, variables like number of households sharing same building with respondents, number of children below eighteen years, employment structure and income need to be carefully considered in evolving strategies for household waste disposal in informal settlements like Ayobo, Lagos.