Determinants of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Toward Plastic Pollution Among University Students in Bangladesh

The harmful impact of plastics on the ecosystem of Bangladesh is prolonged and magnified by the accelerated urbanization and the enormous applications of single-use plastics. The gap in research monograph is the untapped yet indispensable area of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) of university students regarding this crisis that places this group of highly educated youngsters in the perspective of this study as the drivers of sustainable change in the years to come. The cross-sectional survey of the students from three universities in Dhaka (n=201) on a pre-designed questionnaire to collect the data was considered the study and analyzed with the help of descriptive statistics and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression. The findings suggest a colossal knowledge-behavior gap: high awareness score (the mean of 4.12 /5 of the students said that they were aware of the effect of pollution) and highly positive attitudes (91% of the students said that universities should have plastic policies), but their behavior was that they were a giant consumer of single-use plastics and in addition poor waste managers as only 12.4% of them used the recycling bins regularly This is a considerable attitude-practice gap, which suggests the fact that awareness is not sufficient. Most importantly, the regression outcome revealed that the predictive variables were knowledge (β=0.298) and attitude (β=0.412) but access to enabling university facilities (β=0.245) was the true importance of sustainable behavior. In the paper, students are willing though limited by structural and convenience barriers. It. therefore recommends certain initiatives like better facilities in the campuses, good green campus actions, and integrated education that can be used to narrow this gap and make the youth realize the potential to help in reducing plastic pollution in Bangladesh.

Plastic Pollution, Knowledge Attitude and Practices (KAP), Plastic Pollution

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