Comparative analysis of attitude towards the management of Urban Solid Waste in university students

Abstract

Introduction: environmental pollution is one of the main problems, since, as society advances towards a greater production and consumption of products, a greater amount of solid waste is generated and consequently an excessive increase in the use of natural resources. Objective: compare the attitude towards the management of urban solid waste in students from a public university in the Heroica Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Method: comparative study in a population made up of 202 university students from a public university located in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The instruments that were applied were a Sociodemographic Data Sheet and the instrument designed by Andraca and Sampedro that measures the attitudes towards the management of Urban Waste, which consists of 30 items. Results: the results show that the group that had not taken the sustainable development course had an average score of 80,63 on the Urban Solid Waste Management Attitude Questionnaire, compared to the group that had taken the course, which had a score of 114,14. These scores indicated statistically significant differences (U=126,000; p=,000), indicating that taking the sustainable development course increases the positive attitude towards Urban Solid Waste Management. Conclusions: it was concluded that formal education is very important and is the basis for caring for the environment.