SUSTAINING COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PROJECTS IN LAGOS CITY, NIGERIA

This empirical study examined the influence of community participation in waste management projects and its sustainability in Lagos City, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted and 230 respondents participated in the study. The instrument employed for data collection was “Community Participation and Waste Management Sustainability Scale (CPWMSS)”. Three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance; also one research question was raised. Results showed that: community participation in awareness creation (t-cal = 3.75, t-tab = 1.96, P < 0.05) participation of local leadership (t-cal = 1.96, t-tab = 0.35, P < 0.05) and participation in mobilization ((t-cal = 3.16, t-tab = 1.96, P < 0.05) have a positive influence on the sustainability of waste management projects. Based on these findings, recommendations such as: active participation of community members, consistent government policy on waste management were made towards the advancement of sustainability of waste management projects. Key Words: Community, Participation, Waste, Sustainability, Project.