Community Perceptions Towards Compositing Of Municipal Solid Waste In Pecekoro Village, Kajok Parish, Latek Subcounty In Gulu District

Rapid growth of businesses and population in and around Gulu town has led to increased production of solid waste consequently giving rise to increased volume of waste dumped in recipient communities. The most attractive and environmentally friendly option to get rid of this huge pileup of garbage and subsequent ones is through composting. The perceptions of recipient communities are crucial to understanding how municipal solid waste management problems might be resolved. Since Gulu municipality still uses open dumping system of waste management, there is need to compost this waste to reduce its volume and at the same time to provide compost and other benefits associated with composting to the community. The perceptions of communities in the dumping areas (recipient communities) are likely to influence the start-up and performance of such initiative. This study provides insights on how recipient community perceptions affect composting of municipal solid waste in the dumping areas of Gulu district. A structured questionnaire survey was implemented in order to interview local residents in the dumping area. The results showed that imparting municipal solid waste composting knowledge to recipient communities enhances increased participation and hence the amount of waste composted. The general perception is that people are willing to compost if there are some prior benefits or incentives given to them; otherwise it is feasible to compost in recipient communities. Therefore any composting scheme introduced in the recipient