ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AT A UNIVERSITY IN MALAYSIA

In many countries including Malaysia, waste disposal is becoming a major problem, aggravated by problems of the overuse of landfills, lack of supply of land for new landfills, increasing land values, increased local opposition to new facilities and increasingly rigorous environmental standards for sanitary landfills. This study aims to examine the university student’s environmental awareness and attitudes towards the university’s solid waste management (SWM). The subjects were first year students and a self-administered questionnaire was used to assess their attitudes, perceptions and practices towards the solid waste problem, Results showed that the students’ environmental awareness, attitudes and perceptions concerning SWM were quite low. So attempt to encourage, through education and awareness on managing solid waste in the campus among the students have to be implemented. Furthermore programs to promote attitude and intention change and actively pursuing sustainable environmental practices were also carried out.