Pathological analysis of environmental behavior of Ardabil citizens with emphasis on waste disposal during the Covid pandemic

Waste disposal and accumulation in the environment is well known as an environmental and human health problem that, in addition to environmental aesthetic issues, is a threat to the mental, physical, and emotional health of citizens. Despite the positive effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on the environment, it has also had negative effects on the environment. This study aimed to pathologically analyze the environmental behavior of citizens in District 3 of Ardabil with emphasis on littering during the COVID-19 pandemic and taking into account four criteria (lack of facilities, dirty environment, anonymity, and habit of littering). 

This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of method. Excel and SPSS software (to estimate the average answers to the questionnaire) were used to analyze the data. To measure the environmental behaviors of the citizens of the studied areas, the relevant indicators were used with the entropy weighting method and the target areas were classified using decision-making techniques. Finally, the Copeland integration technique was used to achieve the final prioritization.

Based on the findings of various decision-making techniques, the Molayosef and Molabashi neighborhoods were in the most unfavorable situation with the lowest score and ranked first in terms of waste distribution, and the Rezvan neighborhood was in the last rank with the highest score and had the best status.

Since many citizens consider the lacked or poor waste disposal services as one of the important reasons for littering behavior, therefore, providing health-care and education infrastructure in the city is very important to encourage community members toward responsible environmental behaviors.