Investigating the Effects of Waste Management on the Rural Environments of Shahin Shahr and Maymeh Counties

 In recent decades, with a sharp increase in population, industrialization of societies, changes in lifestyle, and increasing diversity of human needs, the amount of waste production has increased with negative effects on human health and the environment. Rural areas have also faced different types of waste and their negative consequences in parallel with global developments and thus, "waste management" would be the true response to this situation. However, the specific characteristics of the local lifestyles and socioeconomic conditions of rural areas are different from other areas, i.e., villagers act differently from people living in non-rural areas. As such,  not only their wastes, but also their managements are different. Shahin Shahr and Meymeh counties have varied types of rural and urban agricultural wastes due to their industrial densities, rapid urbanization growth, and significant numbers of villagers and thus, the importance of waste management in preserving the environment, especially the rural environment, is quite clear. The present study aimed to answer the following questions: What are the effects of rural waste management on the environments of the studied areas? Is there a significant difference between the different dimensions affected? Are there any differences between the villages based on the indicators? 

This study evaluated the effects of waste management on the environment preservations of the rural areas of Shahin Shahr and Meymeh counties. According to the Extensive Statistical Society, 4 villages of Hassan Robat, Jahad Abad, Vandadeh, and Soh were selected based on the random cluster method in a way that one village from each rural district was determined and finally, 285 samples were chosen based on Cochran’s formula. This study was a descriptive analytical and applied research in terms of objective. The data were randomly obtained from the sample villages through a survey method by designing a researcher-made questionnaire. For data analysis, one-sample T-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Tukey test were applied in SPSS software. 

To assess the normality of the data, one-sample T-test was used to evaluate the impacts of rural waste management on the environments of the rural areas. Based on this test, the value of 3 indicated an average effect. It was a two-tailed test with 281 degrees of freedom (d.f: (n-1)=282-1=281). The villagers’ points of view showed that the P value calculated for each of the environmental indicators was less than 0.05. Therefore, based on the mentioned values and considering the average and desirable limit of 3, the effectiveness of rural waste management in improving and promoting the indicators of water, soil, air, vegetation cover, animal diversity, and human and physical environments was higher than the average. Based on the analysis of the experts’ opinions and according to the Sig. (2-tailed) level, the calculated values were less than 0.05 and the high impacts of waste management in relation to the indicators of human and physical environments, vegetation, and animal diversity with the averages of 3.665, 3.445, 3.503, and 3.538 were accepted, respectively. Then, one-way ANOVA was applied to examine the differences in the dimensions of the environmental indicators. Based on the findings, the calculated Sig. (2-tailed) levels for some environmental indicators like climate were lower than the significance level of 0.05 compared to the other indicators. Therefore, the difference between the environmental indicators was confirmed. Also, to find out the difference between the rural areas studied in Shahin Shahr County, one-sample T-test and Tukey test were utilized to classify the villages in homogeneous groups. Considering the desired value of effectiveness (3) and based on the quantitative average values of the one-sample T-test, a significant difference could be observed between the studied villages compared to other villages. The environmental indicators of improving water, soil, and air qualities in Soh Village had lower values than the desired average value. Based on the average values obtained from the one-sample T-test, Hassan Robat and Jahad Abad villages had the highest average values regarding the effects of rural waste management on improving vegetation quality, as well as the animal, human, and physical environments. Conversely, the villages of Vandadeh and Soh had a lower average. Compared to other villages, the Soh Village with the average of 2.166 had the lowest quality of human environment. After determining the significant differences between the environmental indicators on the one hand and between the studied areas on the other hand, Tukey test was used to classify the studied villages in homogeneous groups. The findings indicated the impact of difference in location on the studied indicators. 

According to the results, the total average value of the indicators in the studied areas was higher than 3 with the values of 3.419, 3.414, 3.330, 3.538, 3.476, 3.425, and 3.400 for water, soil, air, human environment, physical environment, animal environment, and vegetation, respectively. Also, the results of one-sample T-test showed that from the experts and people’s viewpoints, waste management had a positive effect on the various environmental dimensions of the rural areas with a value of higher than average. The results of one-way ANOVA revealed the difference between the studied indicators and those of T- and Tukey tests displayed the difference between the rural areas (difference in location). Consequently, the Hassan Robat and Soh villages were found to have the best and worst conditions, especially in terms of soil, air, animal environment, and human life, respectively.