A study on awareness of Dental students in Electronic Waste Management

Abstract

Background: Electronic Waste or e-waste is one of the rapidly growing problems in the world. The old electronic appliances such as computers, laptops, TVs, DVD players and mobile phones etc which have disposed by their users come in this category. The presence of hazardous chemicals in electronic products is severely compromising human health and the Environment. This study was conducted with the aim to assess the awareness of Dental students in ewaste management. Materials and Method: A cross-section study was carried out in the month of January, 2017 among third year, final year students and interns of Swami Devi Dyal Hospital and Dental College, Panchkula. The E-Waste Management Awareness Inventory (EWMAI) was used to check the awareness of students regarding management of e-waste. All data analysis was done using the statistical package of social sciences 17.0 software (SPSS Inc; Chicago IL). Chisquare test was applied to test the association between variables. All reported probability values are based on two-sided tests and compared to a significance level of 5%.Results: A total of 100 students participated in the cross-sectional survey. The study sample consisted of 65 female and 35 male students. Only 37% of the males and 46% of females know about the formal e-waste collection services.10% of the males and 16% of females have knowledge on e-waste government policy. Conclusion: There is a need for increased public awareness through health education on hazards and handling of e-waste management along with strict legislations by the government.