APPLYING BUDDHIST PRINCIPLES TO ENHANCE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT A CASE STUDY OF RANG WAI SUBDISTRICTMUNICIPALITY AT PHANOMTHUAN DISTRICT IN KANCHANABURI PROVINCE

Abstract

Objectives of this research article were: 1. To the level of public participation in solid waste management of Rang Wai Sub-District Municipality, Phanom Thuan District, Kanchanaburi Province; 2. To study the relationship between Iddhipada 4 and public participation in solid waste management; and 3. To present the application of Buddhist principles to enhance public participation. This research was a mixed-methods. The quantitative research used questionnaires with reliability of 0.953, collecting data from 350 samples in Rang Wai Sub-District.. Data were analyzed using basic statistics, including frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The qualitative research involved in-depth interviewing 9 key informants.

The results were found that: 1. The overall level of public participation in solid waste management was at a moderate level ( =3.18, S.D. = 0.69), and the overall level of Iddhipada was also moderate ( =3.33, S.D. = 0.49) 2. The relationship between Iddhipada and public participation was positive at a moderate level (R = .610^**) and 3. The application of Iddhipāda Principles to promote public participation revealed that participation in receiving information and public communication enhanced people’s knowledge and understanding of solid waste management practices in the community. Participation in planning and proposing ideas contributed to determining appropriate operational guidelines and approaches in accordance with the community context. Participation in decision-making provided opportunities for people to express their opinions and jointly consider solutions to waste management problems. Participation in implementation, such as waste separation, waste reduction, and public awareness campaigns, encouraged people to actively contribute to solid waste management. Meanwhile, participation in monitoring and evaluation played an important role in assessing the success of operations and using the evaluation resulting to improve and develop solid waste management for greater efficiency and sustainability in the community.