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UPSI Digital Repository (UDRep)
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| Abstract : Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris |
| This study aims to investigate the generation rates and composition, management practices, and peoples’ awareness on welding waste related issues. Descriptive survey design was adopted, and data were collected from six vocational colleges located in the central zone of peninsular Malaysia. Methods used for data collection include on-site waste measurement, survey questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and field observation. Quantitative data were analyzed using Statistical Programme for Social Sciences (SPSS) while the qualitative data were analyzed by classifying data into emerging categories and themes. The results revealed that welding waste issues in vocational colleges were significant, based on amount, composition, management and peoples’ awareness. On average, welding waste generation rates were up to 83.42 kgw- 1 and per capita generation rate was 1.23 kgw-1st-1. Welding wastes were composed of scrap metal, metal dust, welding electrodes, and grinding disks. Scrap metal constituted up to 92.89 percent of the total welding waste. Management practices such as on-site storage, handling, waste collection and removal from the source were relatively similar among the workshops. The study also found that waste separation and metal dust handling were unsatisfactory. In term of awareness, high levels of teachers’ and students’ awareness were recorded. Linear regression analysis suggests that students’ waste practices were significant to explain 68.1 percent variance in waste generation rates. The obtained data have illustrated that further improvement in various aspects of welding waste management in vocational colleges welding workshops is needed. Initial effort can be made through the establishment of standard to guide peoples’ practices and further enhance their levels of awareness on waste management in the welding workshop. |
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