Public perception of littering : Case study in Kota Kinabalu City / Azweynna Khalid and Daud Arshat

Littering is no longer considered as an important issue for some people. Not many
countries around the globe have successfully tackled the issue of littering and Sabah
is one of them. Littering not only poses serious environmental problem, it also causes
losses in terms of business opportunities and foreign investments. The question of
why people litter is very difficult to be answered. It has a strong relationship with an
individual perception of littering. How people perceive littering differs from one
individual to another. This research was an attempt to obtain the people’s perception
of littering and focused on Kota Kinabalu city as a case study. A survey questionnaire
was developed and distributed to 120 respondents in 12 different areas in Kota
Kinabalu. Based on a simple descriptive analysis, the study attempted to gauge the
people’s perception of littering based on the factors presumed to be the causes for
people to litter. An inferential statistics was also employed to examine the relationship
between the people’s perception of littering with their demographic profiles.