Study of the impact of citizens’ perceived behavioral control on waste littering behavior and the resulting environmental status

Littered wastes are one of the important problems in the urban environment that depends on the behavior of citizens. In this study, the perceived behavioral control of citizens and its relationship with waste littering behavior was investigated. In addition to this. the result of this behavior in the status of the urban environment was evaluated by interpreting the Clean Environment Index. The results showed that the health and environmental consequences of littering were not properly understood by the respondents because 54% were not bothered by the litter in the urban environment, only 36% considered this waste as a threat to the urban environment, and more than 90% believed that all urban litter was completely collected by the urban cleaning system. Furthermore, the assessment of respondents' perceived behavioral control showed that 85% of citizens agreed that they could avoid littering, while more than 80% agreed that they could hold the waste for a few minutes until they found a trash bin or waste container. However, 89% responded that they had waste littering behavior, 40% of which were in low access points. Littering behavior resulted in an average density of littered waste of 0.3797 items/m² in the studied urban environment. The calculated Clean Environment Index in 15 studied locations was ranged in 2.3-32.1, indicating that 46.6% of the locations were in a dirty and extremely dirty status. The lack of appropriate behavior of citizens, despite the high perceived behavioral control can be due to the influence of external factors, including the absence of anti-littering laws, as well as the inappropriate attitude of citizens in ignoring the negative consequences of this type of waste and the inefficiency of the urban cleaning system. Therefore, it is suggested to develop education to increase citizens' awareness of health and environmental consequences of waste littering.