| Summary: | This study examined the level of awareness, knowledge and practices of primary and
secondary schools students with regard to waste management. Only a limited number of
studies were found to evaluate school student’s awareness, knowledge and practice of
waste management in South Africa. Literature was reviewed dealing with waste
management awareness, knowledge and practices of school students and discussed at the
hand of the principles, objectives and targets of the South African Government towards
waste and waste management.
Using a structured, self-administered questionnaire, a total of 815 students were surveyed
from four primary schools and three secondary schools from the Embalenhle and Secunda
area Govan Mbeki Municipality, Mpumalanga South Africa. The data were analysed by the
use of descriptive statistics including frequency count, percentage, mean and standard
deviation. Other analyses employed included two-way frequency tables with Pearson Chisquare
test, Phi coefficient, in order to determine the significant relationship between
students’ socio-demographic variables.
The study showed that the students were obviously aware of concerns with waste and waste
management practices in their schools and local environment. It was also apparent the
school students had an acute awareness that poor waste management would have a
negative impact on the country as well as on them as the individual. This prominent
awareness was however not evident in the students’ waste management practices. Good
waste management practices activities were minimal at both the school and home
environment. Since school students are seen as one of the key agent of change to work
towards a more sustainable future, they should be engaged as young as possible and given
a quality array of continuous learning to improve their knowledge on environmental problems
such as poor waste management. Improved knowledge would contribute to improved
environmental awareness and a pro-environmental attitude. The critical recommendations of
the study are that the South African Government will have to intensify the research to better
understand the needs of children to environmental matters such as waste management. === M. Environmental Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014
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