Parental Education and Good Child Habits to Encourage Sustainable Littering Behavior

Abstract

Proper habits formed since childhood represent the ideal head start to help keep the environment clean, although this is not a standalone vital factor for a person to dislike littering behavior. The data used in this study were derived from the compilation of primary data. This paper concerns littering behavior of children and presents a survey conducted with 2349 individuals who completed a survey with relevant items and demographic information. The respondents were sampled with a purposive random sampling survey method. Then, by means of logistic regression, we found that low-income households need to be supported by disposal facilities and formal education, while high-income households need to be supported by awareness-raising on the issue. Moreover, it was found that in terms of environmental protection during the pre-school period, self-initiative and parental assistance were not sufficient to drive individual responses on littering behavior. However, there is the need to analyze, in further research, religious education and other extrinsic and intrinsic motivations about environmental care and waste management for children.

1. Introduction

Environmental problems, especially waste, are faced by almost all countries in the world, including Indonesia. Waste mostly originates from human activities; this waste is often called anthropogenic waste. Anthropogenic waste is all products (made by humans and already used by humans) intentionally discharged into the environment through rivers or carried by waves or ocean currents (UN 2019). The average Indonesian produces around 0.52 kg of waste every day, and around 83% of the total waste is not managed [1]. In Indonesia, waste management is considered to be less than optimal. Waste management is less than optimal due to a lack of public awareness or knowledge in managing waste. An increase in the amount of waste consumption that is not balanced with good waste management will cause a buildup of waste. Accumulation of waste can cause environmental pollution, which will later have an impact on broader aspects. Most people still do not have the awareness to dispose of waste in the proper place or minimize the amount of waste they produce.

Garbage is often found in various places, such as strewn on the road, in river bodies, coastal areas, or at sea. Garbage is a problem faced by people in urban areas, especially in coastal areas. Plastic waste is often found on the beach; it comes from rivers that flow to the beach and from recreational activities around the coast. The presence of rubbish in the river body indicates the behavior of people who carelessly throw garbage into the river [2] and the lack of awareness from the public about the importance of protecting the environment. The attitude of these individuals is also driven by the lack of available waste disposal facilities in the region. The garbage in the sea not only comes from the sea but can also come from land. Garbage from land or garbage deliberately discharged into the river is then carried into the sea so that it builds up marine trash [3].

Waste problems do not only occur in waters, but also in land areas. Most plastic waste is difficult to rot and must be recycled. Unmanaged waste will accumulate in landfills and cause environmental and social problems. Accumulation of waste in landfills, on the streets, and even in waterways causes envi-ronmental pollution. The accumulation of rubbish causes the environment to become dirty, decreasing the beauty of the environment around landfills and the beauty of the city [4], The more serious impact of waste is on health. Waste becomes a source of diseases that can affect health and even cause death for living things. In addition, the accumulation of garbage in several places can cause floods due to clogging the flow of water [5].

The role of the environment is very important for humans, and therefore, we need to protect the environment from litter and garbage accumulation. Proper waste management is needed to protect the earth. Improper waste management also triggers environmental problems. Lack of knowledge causes people to mismanage the waste they produce. People in the Anyer area of West Java burn plastic waste [6] so that plastic waste does not pollute the beach. They minimize the amount of trash that is on the beach, but these activities have a bad impact on the environment. These activities produce new pollutants from burning plastic waste, which will cause other problems.

The cause of inappropriate waste disposal is individual garbage disposing behavior. The behavior of littering is influenced by several factors, including reluctance to look for a landfill, lack of knowledge about environmental impacts, and producing a large quantity of waste [7]. The availability of landfills is very influential in environmental care behavior. Garbage bins that are easy to reach will reduce littering habits and increase proper waste disposal habits. The availability of rubbish bins that are easy to reach must be supported by the conditions of proper bins. A clean environment can be achieved if there is a basic change in mindset and human behavior towards reducing waste and littering. Although they collect, recycle, and process waste, if there is no reduction in the action of improperly disposing of garbage, the environment will remain dirty. In an effort to reduce waste consumption, an individual must have awareness of the environment and what is called the public’s environmental needs.

The study emphasized children’s behavior towards the environment in the form of dislike of littering. This behavior is identical to the habits that they exercise every day. This habit in children is influenced by education provided either by parents, the community, or from school. Parental education is one of the most important factors in shaping human behavior. Parent-guided norms, rules, and teachings usually help shape how children are supposed to behave in society. Hence, parents’ role in preparing the next generation of a country’s population is important.

2. Literature Review

This study emphasized children’s behavior towards the environment in the form of dislike of littering. Behavior is identical to the habits they exercise every day, and habits are influenced by the attitude of the individual. If they like an activity, they will be happy to perform it, and this activity will continue to be carried out and then become a habit. This affects behaviors that support the environment. Pro-environment behavior is influenced by several factors. Some of the pro-environment behaviors that children can perform are in the form of garbage disposal, waste classification, and reducing, reusing, and recycling. Waste classification categorizes waste as plastic, organic, bottles, etc.; this aims to facilitate the process of recycling waste. Social factors that influence the classification of waste include the following [5]:

• Demographics: age, income, education level, gender, political beliefs, presence of children;
• Psychology: perception of comfort and ease of business, knowledge, social norms, attitudes and environmental focus, recycling habits, beliefs, and groups;
• Economy.

Recycling activities are influenced by social norms. Social norms are rules that govern what is acceptable or not acceptable in the community. This social norm is influenced by family, neighbors, and friends [8]. Each individual directly learns about the behavior toward the environment from daily activities carried out by the community. If the surrounding community acts pro-environmentally, this will encourage individuals in the area to care about the environment, and vice versa. This affects every individual, especially children. Children imitate the activities carried out with regard to the environment because they do not have enough knowledge to distinguish between activities that protect the environment or damage the environment. The subjective norms of a child are influenced by the norms taught by their parents [9]. A child spends more time with his family, and this will affect the subjective norms of the child. However, social norms alone are not enough to change individual behaviors—attitude and perceived behavior control is needed [10]. Attitude and perceived behavior have a direct impact on behavior because they correlate with individual intrinsic motivations [10,11].

Economic factors can also encourage one to carry out pro-environment activities, such as waste classification and recycling. These activities provide economic benefits, so individuals will be more willing to engage in them. Most studies suggest that pro-environment behavior is influenced by environmental education [12,13,14,15,16], but there are some researchers who mention that there is no relationship between education and pro-environment behavior [17,18]. Environmental education is a system that combines programs, tools, and approaches to support community attitudes, promote awareness of the environment, and improve individual skills to take ecological actions [19]. This environmental education consists of several levels, namely individuals, communities, and ecosystem extinction.

Stern et al. [16] state that there is a positive relationship between knowledge, awareness, expertise, attitudes, and behavior. Duration of formal education will affect the level of knowledge. People can learn pro-environment knowledge from school, but this does not significantly influence their ecological behavior. There are other factors that influence ecological behavior, such as experience and environmental awareness [20]. To increase ecological behavior, we need not only formal education, but also informal education. Informal education is learned from family and society. Some countries have used the media in providing education to the public to improve environmental knowledge. Media used include pamphlets, television, and internet [14]. One of the things taught in environmental education is to classify waste. There are several aspects that affect a person’s willingness to classify waste:

• The existence of rewards or punishments in the implementation of waste classification [21];
• Classification facilities;
• Community awareness.

Some other factors that influence classification include gender, economic level, education, and geographical location [15]. According to Gamba and Oskamp’s [22] research, gender does not affect recycling activities. According to Mintz [4], women recycle more than men in terms of easy or mild types of recycling. Often, requirements and difficult recycling efforts drive down the rate of recycling. The behavior of environmental care includes recycling, energy saving, and water saving. According to Liu and Sibley [23], several factors that influence the desire to classify waste include: demographic characteristics, psychological factors, and economic factors. Demographic characteristics include age, level of education, income, etc. Psychological factors include individual perceptions, information, social norms, environmental behavior and attention, and recycling habits.

Waste management requires facilities to support individual behavior. These facilities must be easy to access (short distance), widely available, and have various designs. In the country of Indonesia, types of bins are divided into three, namely, bins for organic waste, bins for inorganic waste, and B3 bins (hazardous toxic substances). In the past two decades, Japan has separated ten categories of waste based on its type [24]. Recycling can be performed independently or in groups. Recycling that is carried out independently is influenced by the available storage space in each house. If the house does not have a lot of space, then waste will automatically be disposed of directly into one trash bin. If there is enough space, they will be able to sort waste and reprocess or even recycle the waste. According to Roczen et al. [25], activities that can protect the environment include minimization of waste, recycling, and energy saving. Waste minimization can be achieved by using environmentally friendly items, such as bags made of cloth rather than plastic. If things can be used again, they should not be thrown in the trash. Objects that can no longer be used and will become trash should be recycled into new goods. The last ecological activity is to save energy. Electricity savings range from using energy-efficient electricity tools, to turning off unused electrical equipment. Other energy saving activities include using public transportation to reduce fuel use and pollution production.

Environmental education can be given to the community, especially households. Education in the community is expected to increase knowledge of environmental management. Activities that can be carried out by the community include cleaning the environment, reusing goods so that they do not become garbage, and sorting garbage based on organic or inorganic qualities. Inorganic waste sorting can be classified as that which is recyclable or cannot be recycled. Communities cannot carry out these management activities themselves; they need support and assistance from relevant agencies. Related agencies play a role in providing infrastructure, education, and law enforcement. The infrastructure that can be provided by the government is the provision of trash bins, and firmness is needed in processing littering violations.

Hoang and Kato [26] state that efforts to encourage children to care about the environment can include the reuse of toys. Children’s ownership of toys is always increasing. Their toys have an average age of 3–5 years. After this period, children become bored playing with the toy, and the toy will become rubbish. To help the environment, children can utilize the concept of reuse. Children who do not like their toys can donate them to other people. This effort is considered more ecological than throwing away unused toys, which will only increase the amount of waste. The results of the aforementioned study found that 67.1% of the sample of children and households participated in minimizing the amount of waste through this donation activity.

Factors affecting pro-environment activities [22]:

• Demographic variables: education, age, income, child attendance;
• Knowledge of environmental conservation;
• Attitudinal variables: beliefs about environmental problems, individual motives, and participation in community programs, feel they want to help solve environmental problems. Belief in the effectiveness of recycling activities, favorable government regulation;
• Behavioral variables: past recycling behavior, recycling by friends and neighbors.

Pro-environment behavior is supported by behavioral variables, including prior individual behavior. If the individual is already accustomed to performing pro-environment activities, they will more positively perceive pro-environment activities that are now being carried out or set to be carried out. However, the behavior is also influenced by the surrounding environment, including both friends and neighbors. If individuals who are accustomed to behaving pro-environmentally are influenced by neighbors who are not pro-environment, the pro-environment activities that were previously carried out can slowly disappear. According to the results of research from Roczen [25], the relationship between environmental knowledge and environmental behavior of children is weak. This is because children’s knowledge of the environment is still small, thus, they do not know about current environmental problems. This requires increasing the knowledge of children about the environment. According to Novo-Corti [27], pro-environment behavior is influenced by several factors including awareness, attitude, motivation, social norms, environmental education, and intention. Integration between social economy and environmental education is very important [28]. Motivation can be distinguished as intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is related to concerns and behaviors exercised for reasons of individual inherent interest, enjoyment, and satisfaction [11]. Meanwhile, extrinsic motivation is related to concerns and behaviors exercised for reasons other than inherent satisfaction, such as rewards, punishments, self-esteem, activity value, and recognition [11]. Extrinsic motivation can be influence by internal and external factors such as economic benefits (sanctions and rewards and benefits from waste), waste sorting facilities (distance to waste collection locations, recycling centers), awareness (waste sorting guidelines), sorting transportation (waste collection/transportation methods and frequency of waste transportation), and participatory atmosphere (management and the surrounding community) [11,29]. In addition, Kalajas-Tilga et al. [30] showed that intrinsic motivation is important to the psychological satisfaction that drives individuals towards action in the long term based on their free will.

Figure 1 shows that general ecological behavior is influenced by effectiveness knowledge, attitude towards nature, and action-related knowledge. According to Liu and Sibley [23], children can influence environmental conditions in negative terms, for example, littering behavior. This is caused by the social status of the pattern of child care both at home and at school. Parenting patterns at home take the form of interactions between family and children, while parenting patterns in schools include interactions between teachers and students, the curriculum, and teacher education. Hartley et al. [31] stated that children aged 8–13 years know the problem of the impact of waste and actions to solve environmental problems, but this is only basic knowledge. After education, there is an increase in understanding and improvement in environmental care behavior. Education is important for children because children play a role in the present and the future.

Waste management has been conducted for a long time with a simple technique [32]. Organic waste from the kitchen is disposed of in one place that will become topsoil that can be used for agriculture. The environment is clean because garbage is not scattered and soil is fertile. The solution to overcoming environmental problems, including the problem of waste, is through social agendas in the community. This activity is carried out to increase public awareness about the environment. This environmental awareness can be encouraged by increasing environmental knowledge through counseling or other social agendas [33]. Awareness is not only instilled in adults. Environmental awareness also needs to be taught to children. To instill awareness in children, we must be able to impact their daily lives by providing entertaining and interesting environmental education. Therefore, the right media must be prepared.

Mintz et al. [4] state that there are two waste management activities, namely reducing and recycling. Reducing is carried out before garbage is formed while recycling is realized after garbage is formed. Both of these activities can improve the economy, saving the remaining money in the recycling process. By reducing and recycling, the benefits obtained are not only for the natural environment but also for the individual economy. However, there are principles that are not quite right about these two concepts, as some people choose to just recycle and do not reduce. The biggest waste problem is the large amount of waste production and improper disposal. If waste production remains high and people do not commit to reducing, this will have an impact on the severity of recycling activities. People should prevent the formation of waste by reducing waste and then recycling their waste.

This management includes a preventive effort by using social norms in the community. Some people, especially rural people, prefer to use shopping bags that can be used repeatedly. Some traditional markets still use leaves to wrap goods, which is considered more environmentally friendly. The aim is to minimize the production of plastic waste. The impact of education on each individual is different, depending on the individual. Environmental education can be accomplished anywhere, either in the community or the school environment. This environmental education is important; the aim is to increase knowledge of environmental problems that occur and how to find solutions to solve the problems so that people can live better with better environmental conditions.

According to Kollmuss and Agyeman [34], environmental behavior is formed from the experience of each individual. Individuals who practice pro-environment activities directly have a stronger influence than those not practicing. In addition, environmental behavior is influenced by social norms, culture, and family habits. This affects and shapes individual attitudes. Another factor that is not taken into account is that a person’s attitude can change at any time. The method of improving education has no effect on pro-environment behavior [34]. Pro-environment behavior is a multidimensional science [16]. To learn about it, we cannot use just one type of knowledge, rather, we must combine several sciences. The combined knowledge includes psychology, norms, science, environment, and education. There is a relationship between values and environmental behavior. Someone will carry out pro-environment activities if they can benefit from nature. The greater the value they obtain from nature, the more pro-environment behaviors they will perform [35]. Garbage is an environmental problem that must be managed properly. Waste management is related to waste disposal behavior. This management is carried out from collecting, distributing, and disposing waste. We must consider garbage bins, the number of garbage vehicles, and the number of garbage workers [36].

Meanwhile, according to Leeabai [18], the behavior of disposing garbage is not influenced by the distance of the trash bin to the individual. If individuals do care about the environment, they will dispose of garbage when they are met with trash bins. The distance of the bin is only related to the accumulation of the amount of garbage, not the behavior of disposing of the garbage. When there are trash cans that are separated by type, this will affect extrinsic motivation in separating waste.

Figure 2 shows factors that influence individuals to change littering behavior: education, enforcement, and infrastructure. These three elements must complement each other. There are two theories used to explain the behavior of the environment, namely the theory of planned behavior and the theory of belief theories regarding the value of behaviors norms driven by internal and external factors [37]. Internal factors come from each individual, while external factors come from the natural environment and social environment. Behavior theory involves attitudinal theory, where the individual’s behavior is positively valued. Individual behavior is determined by individual norms. These personal norms depend on one’s awareness of environmental problems, and their sense of responsibility to solve those problems.

With the problems that occur on earth, an understanding of children’s attitudes and behavior towards the environment is needed. The clean and healthy lifestyle of children is difficult to change because of lack of knowledge and limited resources. According to Kollmuss and Agyeman, there is no direct link between environmental knowledge and pro-environment behavior. Providing more environmental education does not necessarily increase pro-environment behavior. Pro-environment behavior occurs because of habits that have been carried out, and changing a habit requires a short time. Based on the above model, it is stated that pro-environment behavior is influenced by two factors, namely internal factors (from individuals) and external factors (outside of individuals). The black box shows obstacles that prevent pro-environment behavior. The arrows illustrate the interrelationship between the influencing factors. The greater the arrow, the greater the influence of the factor on pro-environment behavior. The biggest factor affecting pro-environment behavior is old behavior patterns. Changing pro-environment behavior requires practice, not just theory. If you have the desire to change behavior but do not practice it, then the pro-environment behavior will not change.

From all literature described, two questions were raised: (1) which factors have a great effect on the dislike in littering behavior, and (2) do low-income and high-income households have different factors that influence their perceptions of littering? This research was conducted using survey methods among various household types; the details and analysis process are described in the methodology section.

3. Methodology

3.1. Data Description and Collection

A purposive random sampling survey was conducted on 2349 individuals. The survey recorded 563 observations at the household level, with a total of 2349 observations at the individual level. The survey was conducted in several big cities in Indonesia, taken from the most populous provinces in Indonesia. The provinces chosen were West Java, Jambi, Maluku, East Java, West Sumatera, and Jakarta. The cities chosen to be observed in this study are all sub-administrative regions of Jakarta, Muaro Jambi, Ambon, Padang, Surabaya, and Tasikmalaya.

The primary data collection spanned from September 2019 until June 2021. The research was conducted in 2 stages. The first stage for the period September 2019–August 2020 was carried out by distributing questionnaires directly to respondents. The second stage, in April–June 2021, was carried out qualitatively due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as there are restrictions on activities. The duration of data collection was approximately two weeks. The survey consists of 3 sessions to explore many aspects of waste-handling and littering behavior, socio-economic conditions, and educational background factors. All sessions of the survey consist of more than 80 questions in order to enrich research possibilities. In this article, not all results will be displayed, only related topics of the probability of an individual to disliking a littering behavior. This study used the 4th and 6th sections of the survey: ‘Description of Self-Habit on Throwing Garbage’ and ‘Description of Perception and Responds on Waste-Handling’. The sampling method that was used in this survey was random purposive sampling, where random households were taken from intended cities that have waste management problems and a large population. When the household was chosen, enumerators asked every family member about their perception of and response to waste-handling activities. The data on waste-handling behavior vary among individuals.

3.2. Economic Modeling and Regression Method

In this study, the authors used a logistic regression model to estimate the probability of an individual disliking a littering behavior. In other words, this study is examining respondents’ perceptions when they see another person throwing garbage not in the proper place. The dependent variable was derived from the question of how a respondent perceives littering behavior. There were 3 answer choices: (i) supports and tends to follow, (ii) indifferent, (iii) dislikes. The dummy dependent variable of response was created under third choice (iii) basis, where affirmative answers (dummy = 1) stand for the dislike (iii) responses. Otherwise, the first (i) and the second choices (ii) were converted as non-affirmative responses on the dummy variable of disliking littering behavior.

In this study, the probability of disliking littering behavior defined as a dummy variable showing when a person feels annoyed or disturbed from seeing littering behavior. With the dummy variable as the dependent variable, this study uses logistic regression to predict how likely dislike of littering behavior appeared along with other external regressors (independent variables). Records of perception (in this study) are limited to average individuals only. There were no interviewed respondents who had abnormal psychological conditions or situations in their home. Since most of the regressors are also dummy variables, except expenditure per capita, most interpretation of the model will likely use odds ratio of logistic regression to interpret how much each independent variable affects the dependent variable. The odds ratio provides different results from marginal effect. In an odds ratio, there are no negative numbers. In a negative relationship, the odds ratio shows a decimal (0 < x < 1) coefficient parameter (0.x). The ‘below-one’ odds ratio is interpreted as when the dummy independent variable is 1 (yes), it will likely decrease the probability of dependent variable by 0.x times. The continuous variable will be interpreted through marginal effect (similar to continuous variable in OLS regression method).

According to the literature, there might some factors affecting people’s perception of littering behavior, such as garbage facilities/trash bins [7,38], environmental education [13,16,20], awareness [27,39], old environment behavior patterns [34], and perception behavior change [40,41]. The variable of interest of this study is the dummy of parental education. The dummy variable of parental education has been used to approximate whether each respondent is educated by their parents, regardless from when they were taught. Parental education in this study shows informal education about how the respondents are supposed to treat the environment, including to keep its cleanness. An environment-related good habit since childhood is also correlated with parental education on environmental awareness. Good parental education in terms of norms and habits on disposing of garbage should shape an individual’s perception on littering behavior.

The regression model is specified as follows:

$$p=\frac{1}{1+e^{-\left({\beta }_0+{\beta }_1{X}_1+{\beta }_2{X}_2+{\beta }_3{X}_3+\dots +{\beta }_6{X}_6+\epsilon \right)}}$$

(1)

• $p$ = probability of dislike of littering behavior (1 = Yes, dislike);
• $e$ = exponential number;
• ${\beta }_0-{\beta }_9$ = coefficient parameters;
• $X_1$ = expenditure per capita (USD/day);
• $X_2$ = dummy if respondent has self-initiative to keep environment clean (1 = Yes);
• $X_3$ = dummy if respondent has been taught not to litter since childhood 1 = Yes);
• $X_4$ = dummy if respondent has good habit (not to litter) since childhood (1 = Yes);
• $X_5$ = dummy of trash bin unavailability (1 = Unavailable)
• $X_6$ = dummy if respondent is formally taught to keep environment clean (1 = Yes);
• $\epsilon$ = error terms.

4. Results and Discussion

4.1. Summary Statistics

To understand the respondents’ characteristics, the table of summary statistics is stated in

Table 1. Summary statistics.

	Jakarta	Jambi	West Java	East Java	Maluku	West Sumatera	Total
Response to littering behavior
Like/agree	0	42	46	16	61	5	170
Dislike/disagree	372	342	345	343	395	382	2179
Total	372	384	391	359	456	387	2349
Waste bin availability
Available	372	355	387	359	359	343	2175
Unavailable	0	29	4	0	97	44	174
Total	372	384	391	359	456	387	2349
Parental education (to not litter and keep clean the env.)
No	206	136	251	192	184	343	1312
Yes	166	248	140	167	272	44	1037
Total	372	384	391	359	456	387	2349

:

4.2. Probability of Disliking Littering Behavior

In the following regression result table (

Table 2. Regression results.

	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4	Model 5	Model 6
Variables	Prob. of Dislike of Littering Behavior 1	Prob. of Dislike of Littering Behavior 1	Prob. of Dislike of Littering Behavior 1	Prob. of Dislike of Littering Behavior 1	Prob. of Dislike of Littering Behavior 1	Prob. of Dislike of Littering Behavior 1
Expenditure per Capita (USD/Day)	−0.0423 ***	−0.0427 ***	−0.0470 ***	−0.0314 **	−0.0320 **	−0.0334 ***
	(0.0119)	(0.0121)	(0.0122)	(0.0126)	(0.0126)	(0.0127)
Self-Initiative to Keep Cleanness 1	1.34	1.316				0.752
	(0.2713)	(0.292)				(0.2468)
Parental Education to Not Litter 1		1.041	1.282			1.019
		(0.2134)	(0.2533)			(0.2254)
Non-Littering Habit Since Childhood 1			0.704 *	0.470 ***	0.506 ***	0.523 ***
			(0.1367)	(0.0994)	(0.1113)	(0.1161)
Trash Bin Unavailability 1				0.154 ***	0.133 ***	0.121 ***
				(0.0383)	(0.0372)	(0.0364)
Educated to Keep Environment Clean 1					0.738	0.834
					(0.1956)	(0.2466)
Constant	2.871 ***	2.872 ***	3.176 ***	3.603 ***	3.821 ***	3.961 ***
	(0.2200)	(0.2200)	(0.1830)	(0.2080)	(0.2890)	(0.3340)
Pseudo R-Square	0.0141	0.0141	0.0160	0.0670	0.0684	0.0692
Observations	1996	1996	1996	1996	1996	1996

*** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1, ¹ 1 = yes.

), most variables are interpreted through odds ratio, except the variable of expenditure per capita. Otherwise, the variables are shown with odds ratio, where if the value of 1 or above indicates a positive relationship The probability of the dislike perception ranges between 0 and 1 (0 < p < 1), where the magnitude of probability is estimated by several regressors (independent variables).

According to the regression results above, expenditure per capita has a negative and significant effect on the probability of disliking littering behavior. The negative and significant relationship indicates that with an increase of USD 1 on expenditure per capita (per person per day; as the proxy of income), the probability of the respondent disliking littering behavior will be decreased by −0.0334. This negative and significant relationship shows a disparity between high and low-income respondents, where most low-income respondents felt unhappy living with garbage. This negative and significant relationship also reflects the existence of ignorance in the majority of high-income respondents. The marginal effect coefficient shows that the better the economic state of an individual, the lower their probability of disliking littering behavior. This relationship also reflects high reliance (or dependencies) on cleaning workers among high-income households. Mintz et al. [4] state that waste production is related to the nature of consumerism. This trait is indeed inherent in every individual. The nature in which individuals expend natural resources and the nature of consumerism are parallel to the production of waste. If individual consumption is high, the amount of waste produced will be high. The nature of consumerism is mostly owned by individuals who have high incomes. If the amount of waste produced is high and not balanced with proper management, it will produce environmental problems.

Valenzuela-Levi [42] states that someone who has a high income is not guaranteed to recycle more. Meanwhile, a person with low income is not guaranteed to have a low recycling rate. People with a high amount of self-initiative will be more sensitive against littering behavior. The probability of them disliking or disagreeing with any littering behavior will likely be 1.3 times higher in models 1 and 2 (Table 2). Although it shows a decreasing odds ratio in model 6 (Table 2), the result is inconclusive and statistically not significant (even at 90% confidence level). Hence, the authors decided to interpret variables using models 1 and 2 (Table 2), after testing their relationship with Spearman’s rank correlation in

Table 3. Spearman’s rank correlation test.

	Dummy of Self-Initiative (1 = Yes)	Dislike of Littering Behavior (1 = Yes, Dislike)	Percentile of Expenditure/Capita
Dummy of Self-Initiative (1 = Yes)	1
Dislikes of Littering Behavior (1 = Yes, dislike)	0.0380	1
	0.0899
Percentile of Expenditure/Capita	−0.0157	−0.1094 *	1
	0.4827	0.0000

* p < 0.05.

. It is clear in Table 3 that the correlations between self-initiative and dislike of littering behavior are small, positive, and statistically not significant. Individual initiatives are related to individual perceptions of the environment. One of the perceptions that influences behavior is anthropocentric, that humans are the center of the earth and they can do anything to the environment. This perception causes environmental damage related to waste. To overcome the problem of waste, it is necessary to increase awareness. The first activity undertaken is to change the perception of people who litter, and furthermore, involve them in the experience of cleaning up rubbish [43].

The perception of convenience in classifying waste is related to the available facilities in relation to management [41]. Convenience is related to recycling and classification activities. Individuals who have an understanding of how to recycle and who think of recycling and classification activities will find it easy to carry out these activities. Moreover, coupled with the benefits they can obtain from recycling, individuals will have awareness and happiness exercising the activity. Public environmental needs is a concept of individual awareness of environmental problems and their support or contribution in the form of behavior to solve these problems [39]. The concept of public environmental concern will increase individual awareness regarding the importance of protecting the environment by considering various impacts that will occur if the environment is not maintained. This concept is expected to change human behavior to reflect more pro-environmental attitudes.

To change the behavior, changes in perception about the environment must be undertaken. According to Whishaw et al. [44], behavior is influenced by social factors. The behavior and mindset of an individual do not escape from the individual social factors. The social factors in question can be in the form of a social environment that encompasses surrounding people and the social interactions that occur. The social environment is a forum for interaction between individuals related to the delivery of thought patterns and behavior. Interactions that occur can form a mindset and influence one’s behavior so that it is the same as the surrounding environment. According to Knickmeyer [5], social factors that encourage the occurrence of pro-environment activities have interdependence. Pro-environment behavior is human behavior that is carried out consciously to minimize negative impacts on resource consumption and reduce waste production [34].

According to Liu et al. [45], education and personal awareness are factors that play a role in shaping behavior, one of which is environmentally friendly behavior. Awareness of each individual regarding environmental problems that occur and the impact arising from environmental problems make individuals more concerned about the environment. This condition is supported by the level of knowledge of how to handle these environmental problems.

In this study, parental education has a positive impact on the probability of disliking littering behavior. An individual with parental education on environmental awareness will likely have 1.019 times higher probability of disliking littering behavior (model 6 in Table 2). Although the result is statistically not significant, the variable of parental education will help to shape individual’s perception of a clean environment. Moreover, parental education on keeping the environment clean will also help them be aware of littering behaviors and not follow such ‘bad’ habits. There is a linear relationship between the level of education and environmental action [20]. Chankrajang and Muttarak [20] conduct research in the school environment by providing knowledge to children. Education here more emphasizes environmental education, environmental conditions, and how they protect the environment, as well as basic knowledge of children about global warming, natural disasters, and their willingness to take action on the problem. Education can contribute to pro-environment activities. Pro-environment activities undertaken by children include the use of bags made of cloth and electricity-saving devices. The use of bags made from this fabric can reduce the production of plastic waste that is increasingly found in the environment.

Education can influence behavior on the environment directly or indirectly. Providing education directly can be achieved in schools in the form of knowledge and skills regarding good attitudes and behavior towards the environment. This education can increase awareness of the environment. The indirect effect is to increase income economically in the form of cost savings or additional cost income. According to Kahn and Lourenco [46], there is a shift in knowledge and attitudes possessed by children after being given environmental education. Children who are 6–8 years old have an anthropocentric understanding. This understanding assumes that humans are the most important creatures, and that nature must submit to humans. This understanding can lead to behavior that is not pro-environment.

The understanding of these children began to shift when they were 11 years old. There is an environmental awareness associated with environmental damage. Between humans and nature, nothing is dominant—they influence each other. There is nothing favored between humans and nature. Based on research by Kahn and Lourenco, children are aware of environmental problems that occur, such as garbage accumulation, but from these environmental conditions, children do not know what caused the problem to occur or how they can minimize or overcome the problem. Children’s knowledge is limited to events that occur. Children’s education is influenced by several parties, namely family or school. Children who are out of school or who are schooled at home will be influenced by the education provided by their parents and influenced by the behavior of parents, whereas school-age children who are present in schools will be influenced by the education provided at school and influenced by the behavior of teachers and peers. Therefore, the agents that influence a child’s environmental values include family, school, and friends [34].

According to Kollmuss and Agyeman [34], children’s dislike of littering behavior is influenced by parents, school, and friends/community. The most important factor in the formation of pro-environment behavior is old behavior patterns. The environmental focus of parents influences the environmental focus of their children [47]. Parents who have pro-environment behavior will influence their children’s behavior. Children will imitate their parents’ behavior because most of their time is spent with parents. Environmental education is not only necessary for adults but needs to also be given to children. Children are the next generation and in the next few decades will act for the environment. Provision of knowledge to children is expected to increase their knowledge of waste or pro-environment behavior, so that awareness will be created to protect the environment. Planting environmental awareness in children can be accomplished in several ways. The goal is to win the attention of children so they are interested and willing to act in support of the environment.

Effective environmental knowledge is given during childhood. This knowledge does not directly trigger ecological behavior. There are many opinions that children’s education will depend on the education given by parents, but this is not all true. Because there is a two-way relationship between children’s education and parental education, it is not only parents’ knowledge that can increase children’s knowledge, but children’s knowledge can also influence their parents’ knowledge [12]. Some studies state that not only environmental knowledge from parents influences children’s environmental knowledge, but children also can influence their parents’ knowledge and even behavior. One of the studies conducted is [48], regarding the classification of waste. When students learn about waste management and its implementation, they can implement the management activities that have been carried out in schools in their home. With these activities, students will be able to influence the behavior of their parents, and this is a school education activity that can affect the community environment indirectly. Children can change their parents’ lifestyle regarding the environment. Education in schools can play a role in increasing public participation in environmental management [49].

Duvall and Zint [13] state that there is an influence of children on the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of parents. As found in research conducted by Damerell, children’s knowledge can increase the knowledge of parents. This increase can occur if there are activities that require collaboration between children and parents. Children who are in school receive environmental education. They are tasked with managing the environment at home together with their parents, so parents automatically participate in environmental management. This activity is able to increase the knowledge of parents who are indirectly taught by their children’s education in school. Vicente and Reis [50] state that environmental education needs to be provided to children through campaigns in electronic media. The media used include TV and radio. Environmental education provided at schools can be started at the kindergarten level to increase their knowledge. Education between kindergarten, elementary, and junior high school students employ media and methods that are appropriate for their level of education, which can be in the form of games or exercise books. The type of method used should not be confused for all levels.

In this study, good habits formed during childhood do not really raise the probability of an individual to dislike littering behavior, as shown by the decreasing and significant odds ratio. The probability of disliking littering behavior will tend to be 0.523 times lower, even if an individual has good habits formed during childhood. This is a unique finding, since the formation of good habits during childhood was not a standalone factor, as expected before. To deepen our understanding, the authors developed simple tabulations to trace why this statistical phenomenon happened, since there must be certain characteristics of respondents affecting this result. From the tabulation below, it is shown that dislike of littering behavior does not always come from good habits formed in childhood. Hence, the role of formal education in the case of Indonesia’s citizens is more important, alongside with parental education in forming environmentally caring characters.

Table 4. Tabulation between people’s response to littering behavior and dummy of good habits formed during childhood.

	Response When Seeing Other People Littering
	Support, Willing to Follow	Indifferent	Dislike/Disagree	Total
Do not have good habits since childhood	32	60	1305	1397
Have good habits since childhood	7	40	874	921
Total	39	100	2179	2318

confirms the negative and significant correlation between good habits formed during childhood and the probability of disliking littering behavior.

The biggest factor in influencing someone’s pro-environment behavior is past behavior that has already formed, but this factor is also influenced by the internal and external factors of each individual, and there are several obstacles in implementing environmental behavior [34]. Mintz et al. [4] state that pro-environment behavior is influenced by community norms. The renewal of regulations or norms about the environment to deal with environmental problems and minimize waste, when compared with long-held traditions, is still lacking. Therefore, the time of implementing the norm is very influential on pro-environment activities. According to Caldini and Reno [17], the acceptance of littering can be minimized by social norms. Norms are rules or beliefs about approved morals and behavior. Social norms act as guidelines for behavior in society, behaviors that may or may not be performed. Social norms are related to one’s perception and can support a clean environment. For example, the public is given an appropriate perception of waste and uses social norms to encourage anti-littering behavior.

Norms have a large impact on behavior, and improvements are needed to concepts that are not traditionally applied. Enforcement of proper garbage disposal requires firmness in its implementation. Ensuring that waste disposal activities in their place are always carried out well requires an order in the form of rules, and punishment is also required for violators [17]. Roczen et al. [25] explain several influential variables, including, among others, ecological behavior scale, attitude toward nature measure, and three-dimensional environmental knowledge. Three-dimensional environmental knowledge includes action-related knowledge, environmental system knowledge, and effectiveness of knowledge. Ecological actions from adolescents and children are encouraged by the existence of environmental knowledge and their attitude towards nature. The five components are interconnected with each other and cannot be separated.

Next, trash bin unavailability tends to make an individual more tolerant to littering behavior. This variable was included in the model in order to show physical and material support on waste-handling cannot be separated. Trash bin unavailability will likely cause the probability of dislike of littering behavior to be 0.121 times lower than if there are trash bins. This negative and significant relationship finding will strengthen arguments among policy makers regarding the importance of waste-handling infrastructure and facilities, alongside with human capital factors. To support waste disposal behavior in its place, infrastructure is needed, one of which is the garbage bin [3]. Ecological behavior is indeed derived from the knowledge and intention to carry out environmental management, but knowledge and intention alone are not enough. When individuals have knowledge and intention, but still experience obstacles to manage it, ecological behavior cannot be carried out [25]. The unavailability of garbage bins is one of the barriers to ecological behavior.

According to Rangel-Buitrago et al. [3], the design of trash bins can also influence the behavior of garbage disposal. This behavior is related to the classification of types of waste. The colors and icon images on the trash bin can help attract the interest of children. The children admitted that they littered because there were no facilities or places to throw trash. Facilities and education for children are needed [7].

Disposing of trash in its proper place can be influenced by:

• The distance between the house and the trash bin;
• Media that can be used including signs for children with interesting pictures;
• Environmental education.

In addition to the value of benefits, Steg et al. [35] mention that pro-environment activities will face problems if the accessibility of trash bins is low. Even though each individual has the motivation to dispose of garbage in its proper place, facilities (rubbish bins) are not available or are inadequate, and then they may not be able to carry out proper garbage disposal and we will still find rubbish that is not in its place. According to David et al. [38], the attitude of caring for the environment can be in the form of sorting waste by type. Sorting efficiency is influenced by the design of the trash and signs or information on the trash. Trash bins with sign design can increase public knowledge about waste management further through waste classification based on the material. In addition, the influence of this design will also be able to attract interest, especially children to dispose of trash in its place. Trash cans that have information in the form of pictures is better than just using words. For some types of waste based on the container, there is an increase in the efficiency of sorting waste when using images, and the sorting accuracy is higher when based on organic waste, recycling, and hazardous waste. To reduce waste, efforts can be undertaken to prevent or minimize waste production, especially inorganic waste.

An equally important factor in the waste management process is infrastructure. Infrastructure needed in the classification process includes the distance between the house and the recycling collection point or from the trash bins, easy access and availability of trash bins, visual design of the trash bins [41]. Tonglet et al. [51] state that things that can encourage someone to perform pro-environment activities are influenced by the presence of facilities, knowledge, opportunities, and inconvenience.

The last factor explored in this study is education on environmental care. In this study, it shows a decreasing odds ratio, i.e., a negative relationship to the dependent variable. An environmentally educated (both formal and/or informal) person will likely have 0.834 times lower probability of disliking littering behavior than uneducated people. Yet, the relationship is not statistically significant.

Table 5. Spearman’s rank correlation test.

	Environmentally Educated (to Keep Clean)	Dislikes on Littering Behavior (1 = Yes, Dislike)
Environmentally Educated (to keep clean)	1
Dislikes of Littering behavior (1 = Yes, dislike)	0.0231	1
	0.3013

and

Table 6. Tabulation between people’s responses to littering behavior and education in the environment.

	Response When Seeing Other People Littering		Total
	Like/Agree	Dislike/Disagree
Not really educated on environment	50	575	625
Yes, educated about environment	120	1604	1724
Total	170	2179	2349

show that the correlation coefficient is weakly positive. Environmental care is realized in environmental protection activities to keep the environment clean. Rangel-Buitrago et al. [3] studied environmental protection behaviors such as avoiding littering and preventing waste from forming.

Care is needed in each individual. Franzen and Vogl [52] stated that environmental care is the understanding and knowledge of individuals that their behavior can harm nature and how they are willing to protect nature from damage. According to Franzen and Vogl [52], there are three dimensions of attitudes that define concern about the environment, including affective, cognitive, and conative. The cognitive dimension is in the form of knowledge about the environment, the affective dimension means that individuals feel concerned about environmental conditions, and the conative dimension is the willingness to protect the environment.

According to Roczen et al. [25], activities that can protect the environment include minimization of waste, recycling, and energy savings, and activities known as reducing, reusing and recycling. According to Otto and Pensini [53], to improve environmental care behavior, guidance between knowledge and relationships with nature is needed. Individuals who interact more with the natural environment will feel closer to nature. They realize the importance of nature to them and that maintaining the cleanliness of nature provides many benefits. Then, they will try to keep nature clean and sustainable. Therefore, to increase individual awareness of the environment, individuals must be closer to nature. The trick is to have people carry out activities longer in nature, so they feel close and care about nature.

5. Conclusions

According to the summary statistics, results, and discussions, this study leads to several important conclusions. From this study, it can be concluded that low-income households need to be supported by physical disposal facilities and formal education, while the high-income households need to be supported by raising their awareness of throwing garbage. Furthermore, this study also found that self-initiative and parental assistance in terms of environmental care during the pre-school phase were not enough to drive up individual responses to littering behavior. On the other hand, having a proper habit formed since childhood is the ideal head start to help keep the environment clean, although it is not a standalone key factor for a person to dislike littering behavior. Children’s perceptions of the environment that are influenced by parents can be improved or changed through formal education to avoid littering behavior. From then on, this study suggests that one of the main solutions to the waste-handling problem is to change the individual perception of littering behavior. To change that perception, it can not only focus on one factor, such as infrastructure, formal education, or parental education, but should be supported by self-initiative. Therefore, all factors should be implemented and supported as a waste-handling solution. However, this study focused on factors including self-initiative to keep cleanness, parental education to not litter, having non-littering habits since childhood, trash bin unavailability, and education on keeping the environment clean. Other extrinsic and intrinsic motivations may also implicate individual behaviors, such as interest, policy, taboo, value, and religious education, which are not discussed in this article—this becomes a limitation of this research. Such factors are a recommended focus of research in the near future in Indonesia and elsewhere.