The world’s population continues to grow older at an unprecedented rate. In 2015, 8.5 percent of the world’s population (617 million) was aged 65 and over. According to the report, “An Aging World: 2015”, this demographic group is projected to jump to nearly 17 percent of the world’s population by 2050.
Concurrent with this increase in older populations, the 20th century has seen the dramatic increase at the global level in the production of waste. In the past, many societies took an “out of mind” approach to waste disposal issues through the use of landfill waste management, but landfills are now increasingly being perceived as a burden for the whole globe and for future generation.
There is a strong connection between the growing numbers of older adults in North America who are aging independently in their home and their deteriorating behaviors with managing their waste. There are several factors that effect on waste management including changes on shopping habits and related packaging issues as well as a changing population with large numbers of new immigrants who are not used to municipal waste management systems. Prior research indicated the targeting moral obligations, applying planned behaviour programing, and incorporating a positive attitude towards environmentally friendly products can have a positive effect on recycling behaviours. This thesis reports on a study focused on the mature homeowners who are more likely planning to age in place, and desire to understand the limitations of their behavior towards waste management. This study used a qualitative approach, using interviews to understand the views of older adult participants about changes in their home or behavior which could be compatible with waste disposal. The literature and interviews identified and explored key themes that potentially influenced older adults’ attitudes and behaviours related to domestic kitchen waste management: convenience, safety, fits lifestyle expectations and cost. Based on the analysis of the data, two prototypes for an integrated indoor domestic waste management system were designed to encourage older adults to engage in sustainable waste management of garbage and recycling in their homes.
The findings from this study provide useful improvement to the waste management disposal, identifying the mechanisms needed for user’s satisfaction for an additional and adequate engagement of domestic waste disposal. The results assure and advocate the use of an accessible, safe, and effective integrated waste management system to domestic waste in terms of ameliorate the behaviors of households towards waste management.