1.2 Statement of the problem The city of Lagos is currently littered with mounting heaps of municipal refuse on road kerbs, road median and street corners constituting an eyesore daily. Premium Times, 2017; Vanguard, 2017, during the heavy flooding of Lekki, Victoria Island and Lagos mainland in Lagos, reported the assertion of the Lagos State Commissioner for the environment attributing the flooding to the indiscriminate dumping of refuse in drainage channels. Abolade, et al (2013) in a study about flood disaster in Agege local government in Lagos mainland reported that the indiscriminate dumping of waste in drainages and water bodies accounted for 44.93% of the cause of flooding, among other causes observed. While past studies (Ilechukwu & Chukwukaora, 2016; Kofoworola, 2007; Babayemi & Dauda, 2009) variously attributed this situation to unsustainable waste management practices, the lack of public enlightenment on how to handle waste and the non-adoption of the bottom-up approach, which prevents resource loss at source, it is now critically imperative to directly assess the people’s understanding of the waste hierarchy guideline to see if they understand the role they have to play in the achievement of a sustainable waste management system. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) would be applied to examine the willingness to participate in behaviours that can save the environment from degradation to avoid further threats to lives and properties. 11 2
