The influence of Socio-Psychological Factors on Residents’ Willingness to Practice Sustainable Waste Handling in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia
, Latifah Binti Abd Manaf 2, Amir Hamzah Bin Sharaai 2, Siti Sarah Binti Mohamad Zaid 2 and Muhammed Salisu Khalil 3
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This research offers several implications to guide residents in sorting and recycling waste in their daily lives, providing valuable insights for the community. The overall structure of the manuscript is well-organized. I would like to recommend it for publication.
Author Response
This research offers several implications to guide residents in sorting and recycling waste in their daily lives, providing valuable insights for the community. The overall structure of the manuscript is well-organized. I would like to recommend it for publication.
Thank you very much for your comment is indeed this research was the result of research on the community of Dammam City. There are different levels and categories in Dammam community, and we have made a great effort to clarify the visions in front of the community to understand the nature of sorting and recycling solid waste because the global trend in how to benefit from waste recycling properly and identify the good foundations for the application of sorting and recycling.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript entitled “Influencing of Socio-Psychological factors on Willingness Residents of Sustainable Waste Handling Practices in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia.” is aptly written. Due to advancing industrialization, rising population, and growing and expanding cities, sustainable living is urgently needed. As a result, modern cities currently have a population that exceeds their capacity and produces a lot of waste. This trash needs to be addressed scientifically, and sociological and psychological variables obviously affect how this waste is handled.
After reading the MS, I made the following observations and added them as comments:
1. The MS misses line numbering, please add for proper review.
2. The Authors affiliation and address is not uniform.
3. In abstract, there is something missing in middle which makes sentence hard to read. Please see it. Abstract also needs sentence rearrangement for example 1st sentence itself.
4. In introduction and also in other sections, the references pattern is not uniform.
5. “The first point, awareness of waste sorting and recycling is given as it has a significant impact on household waste sorting and recycling, and relevant governments are raising sufficient awareness of waste sorting and recycling.” Please improve sentence.
6. Review of Literature is fine and nicely written.
7. “Table 1. Waste Generation Rate Analysis in Eastern Area, Saudi Arabia.” Why only Eastern area was chosen for waste data ????
8. Section 4. Focus on the study: What is Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)???? Please explain for layman reader like me.
9. Figure 4: Did authors themselves made the map of Dammam city???? If not please cite the source.
10. Figure 5: The % Sorting and Recycling data shown in the fig. 5 is collected by the authors or this data is obtained from some already available source????... for what time period the data is???
11. Table 5. Anova-Test Analysis to Compare Between High, Middle- and Low-Income Households’ Levels in different variables of the Study: This table data is not understable to me. Please explain.
12. What are future perspectives of the study??? Please add some points on impact of this review on future perspectives in conclusion section.
13. The back matter (data availability, techniques and methods) of MS can be improved.
14. Please have a relook on reference no. 9,29. Moreover, journal name is not uniform at many places. Please stick to journal guidelines for referencing purpose.
15. The first paragraph in Supplementary material is unnecessary. Please, remove it.
Please have a relook on sentence formation at some places.
Author Response
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
The manuscript entitled “Influencing of Socio-Psychological factors on Willingness Residents of Sustainable Waste Handling Practices in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia.” is aptly written. Due to advancing industrialization, rising population, and growing and expanding cities, sustainable living is urgently needed. As a result, modern cities currently have a population that exceeds their capacity and produces a lot of waste. This trash needs to be addressed scientifically, and sociological and psychological variables obviously affect how this waste is handled.
After reading the MS, I made the following observations and added them as comments:
- The MS misses line numbering, please add for proper review.
Thank you very much for this notice I added the line numbering for reviewing to be clearer.
- The Authors affiliation and address is not uniform.
Thank you very much for your notice about the affiliation. I studied my PhD in UPM but in my work they refused the double affiliation because the university working refuse any sharing with othersز This explains the difference in affiliation in the research paper, but this work was done and accomplished in joint cooperation with the rest of the authors, who exerted all their energy with me in producing a good research paper and had a good impact on the outcomes.
- In abstract, there is something missing in middle which makes sentence hard to read. Please see it. Abstract also needs sentence rearrangement for example 1stsentence itself.
Thank you very much for your comment in this point and really the sentence not understood, and I have made some changes to be clearer and understood.
- In introduction and in other sections, the references pattern is not uniform.
Thank you very much for your notice on uniformity of the reference and I done the uniformity of the references.
- “The first point, awareness of waste sorting and recycling is given as it has a significant impact on household waste sorting and recycling, and relevant governments are raising sufficient awareness of waste sorting and recycling.” Please improve sentence.
Thank you very much for your comment to improve the sentence and I improved the sentence to be clearer and understood to the reader.
- Review of Literature is fine and nicely written.
Thank you very much really, we do the best to be more understood and arranged to the reader.
- “Table 1. Waste Generation Rate Analysis in Eastern Area, Saudi Arabia.” Why only Eastern area was chosen for waste data ????
Because our research was done on Dammam city where the city of Dammam is considered one of the largest cities in the Eastern Province and its capital, and we have indicated the importance of studying in Dammam, as it has a great impact on the entire Saudi community, and therefore the picture must be complete logically so that the idea is accepted by the community and the residents of Dammam, so we wanted to clarify the importance of knowing solid waste and producing it, which has a great impact on the community.
- Section 4. Focus on the study: What is Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)???? Please explain for layman reader like me.
The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), which is a conceptual framework that examines the factors influencing someone’s behaviour towards a particular issue. The TPB has been extensively applied in understanding waste sorting and recycling behaviour. Also, Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to explain resident’s waste sorting intention and also, it is effective for understanding households’ waste sorting intention.
- Figure 4: Did authors themselves made the map of Dammam city???? If not please cite the source.
Thank you very much for asking about the map it was made by college of Art Geography department of imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal university. I added the source.
- Figure 5: The % Sorting and Recycling data shown in the fig. 5 is collected by the authors or this data is obtained from some already available source????... for what time period the data is???
The data was collected by authors and calculated in the three levels of participants in Dammam city (Hl, Ml, and LL) and the time period was more than one year from 2021 to 2022.
- Table 5. Anova-Test Analysis to Compare Between High, Middle- and Low-Income Households’ Levels in different variables of the Study: This table data is not understable to me. Please explain.
This table explains that a high level of government facilitators suggests that waste sorting and recycling facilities and local collections should be provided in Dammam City for households to participate fully in sustainable waste handling practice. The lack of these may adversely affect the level of waste sorting and recycling participation, especially among high-income households who are more influenced by the presence of facilities. Also, we can say, The overall ANOVA test revealed significant differences among the three income groups, indicating that each income group in Dammam City has a particular factor motivating their willingness to sort and recycle waste.
12. What are future perspectives of the study??? Please add some points on impact of this review on future perspectives in conclusion section.
Overall, this research was effective in comprehending households’ willingness to sort and recycle waste. However, several limitations exist. The findings are expected to contribute the residents in sorting and recycling of sustainable waste management in Saudi Arabia. Specifically, in the context of source separation of solid waste for recycling practice at household levels. Besides addressing the discussed challenges and expectations in this study, this study highlighted the significance of clear communication and transparency in the sustainable waste sorting and recycling within and between informal organizations and households’ residents, including in the efforts of initiating and sustaining households' participation in waste separation of solid waste for recycling practice. I added the future recommendation for te study in the conclusion section.
- The back matter (data availability, techniques and methods) of MS can be improved.
Thank you very much for the comments and I exactly improved the sections to be most clear and understood to the readers.
- Please have a relook on reference no. 9,29. Moreover, journal name is not uniform at many places. Please stick to journal guidelines for referencing purpose.
I added the missing of the references, it is done.
- The first paragraph in Supplementary material is unnecessary. Please, remove it.
Thank you very much for notice. I remove the first paragraph in supplementary material.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The research is interesting, however results are not unexpected. It would be beneficial if you would suggest some solutions for the problem, some kind of concrete suggestions, probably how to intensify informing and education to obtain higher levels of separate collection or better MSW management. Please give the paper for thorough proof reading.
Pictures and tables in the paper are in total chaos, looks like someone has just thrown them into the paper randomly. Please correct that. Literature referencing is not formatted according to: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/instructions#preparation
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Abstract is really badly written, if compared to Introduction i.e. Please consider serious proof reading.
Author Response
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
The research is interesting; however results are not unexpected. It would be beneficial if you would suggest some solutions for the problem, some kind of concrete suggestions, probably how to intensify informing and education to obtain higher levels of separate collection or better MSW management. Please give the paper for thorough proof reading.
Pictures and tables in the paper are in total chaos, looks like someone has just thrown them into the paper randomly. Please correct that. Literature referencing is not formatted according to: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/instructions#preparation
peer-review-31463740.v2.pdf
Comments on the Quality of English Language
Abstract is really badly written, if compared to Introduction i.e. Please consider serious proof reading.
First, thank you very much for commenting and checking the research paper to highly satisfactory for publication, the secondly, all the results have already been carefully reviewed and the statistical analysis has also been done. From the authors, the data and its analysis should be sequential in an understandable way for the reader.
As for the figures and tables, all the authors were keen to arrange them in a large way, starting with the first figure, and the aim was to know the percentages of solid waste at the level of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, then we specialized in the city of Dammam and knowing the total output of waste in the city compared to similar cities in the eastern region, and then after that the distribution Income in relation to the different levels, whether high, medium, or low. Then we linked Table 3 to Figure 3 of the number of research participants from the city of Dammam, and we brought the picture closer to an illustration showing the percentages. It is possible to delete Figure 3, but I think that the presence of the figure shows and confirms the data. then after that the map, which shows the various neighborhoods of the city of Dammam with the distribution of income, whether high, medium or low, then the statistical analysis tables, and we were very keen to arrange them and show them in a satisfactory manner.
A good abstract has already been made and the data has been updated and revised well. In addition, the research paper has been arranged in a satisfactory, understandable and clear manner for the reader.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
Manuscript ID: sustainability-2563555
Type: Review
Title: Influencing of Socio-Psychological factors on Willingness Residents of Sustainable Waste Handling Practices in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia.
The manuscript presents the influence of socio-psychological factors on the will of residents to sustainably manage waste in the city of Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
The manuscript in this form is not acceptable for publication because it does not meet the basic requirements for review work in terms of content and format.
The largest number of data presented in the paper was taken from an article that was not even cited (Labib, O.; Manaf, L.; Sharaai, A.H.; Zaid, S.S.M. Moderating Effects on Residents’ Willingness inWaste Sorting to Improve Waste Handling in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia. Recycling 2021, 6, 24. https://doi.org/10.3390/ recycling6020024
The results of a similar research are presented in the paper Labib, O.A.; Manaf, L.; Sharaai, A.H.; Zaid, S.S.M. Understanding the Effect of Internal and External Factors on Households’ Willingness to Sort Waste in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 9685. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189685 which is also not listed in the bibliography.
65 references are cited in the paper, of which only three are from the last five years (one each from 2018, 2019 and 2020), and 53 references are from the period before 2016. This manuscript does not contain a complete analysis of the existing literature within the field of study, identifying current gaps or problems.
Author Response
Title: Influencing of Socio-Psychological factors on Willingness Residents of Sustainable Waste Handling Practices in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia.
The manuscript presents the influence of socio-psychological factors on the will of residents to sustainably manage waste in the city of Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
The manuscript in this form is not acceptable for publication because it does not meet the basic requirements for review work in terms of content and format.
The largest number of data presented in the paper was taken from an article that was not even cited (Labib, O.; Manaf, L.; Sharaai, A.H.; Zaid, S.S.M. Moderating Effects on Residents’ Willingness inWaste Sorting to Improve Waste Handling in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia. Recycling 2021, 6, 24. https://doi.org/10.3390/ recycling6020024
The results of a similar research are presented in the paper Labib, O.A.; Manaf, L.; Sharaai, A.H.; Zaid, S.S.M. Understanding the Effect of Internal and External Factors on Households’ Willingness to Sort Waste in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 9685. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189685 which is also not listed in the bibliography.
65 references are cited in the paper, of which only three are from the last five years (one each from 2018, 2019 and 2020), and 53 references are from the period before 2016. This manuscript does not contain a complete analysis of the existing literature within the field of study, identifying current gaps or problems.
Thank you very much for the comment, and the main objective is to enrich the publication in a satisfactory manner so that the research papers are acceptable in form and content for publications, the authors were keen in this research paper to be written correctly and that all data were audited in terms of data collection and statistical analysis accurately and that the data was not displayed from Before because the data in the research paper is within the results of the research group on the community of Dammam City.
As for the research papers that have been published, they differ from the current research paper because in the research paper, which is titled:
Understanding the Effect of Internal and External Factors on Households’ Willingness to Sort Waste in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia. It shared to Correlation matrix of the independent variables and the dependent variable and in table 3 the result of the current study underlines the correlation between awareness and willingness to sort waste. As indicated by the result of the correlation analysis, awareness is associated with willingness and has a direct relationship with the perceived behavioural control and attitude towards waste sorting. Also, Table 4. Unstandardised and standardised regression weight in the hypothesised path model which express the findings revealed that awareness significantly influenced households’ willingness to sort and recycle waste with the regression weight
(_ = 0.362 CR, 5.366, p = 0.004). This finding corroborates those of previous studies (e.g., reveals that awareness directly influences willingness to sort waste and is congruent with previous research that reported that the awareness of consequences or consideration of future consequences determines people’s recycling intentions. The result that awareness is a significant predictor of intention to sort waste underlines the significance of enlightening people about the benefits of individual and collective waste sorting for themselves and others.
About the second paper the title was:
Moderating Effects on Residents’ Willingness in Waste Sorting to Improve Waste Handling in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia.
In this paper explain the moderating effect on willingness such as income levels and gender in Dammam city for example in table 1 shows that Socioeconomic profile of the respondents the economic profile of the respondents covered most Dammam communities, with gender distribution of 56% males and 44% females. The age group ranged from 18 to 68, and the marital status distribution was 54.7% married, 44.7% single, 0.44% divorced and 0.22% widower. The employment distribution was 54.2% government employees, 16.9% private employees, 23.3% unemployed, 2.22% self-employed, 2.9% housewives and 0.44% pensioners. Finally, the household monthly income ranged from SR700 to SR12,000, distributed as 21.1% below SR1000, 38.9% (SR1000–SR5000) and 40% exceeding SR5000. And Table 2. Summarizing the participants’ levels for the study variables the numbers of participants and its percentages in the different levels high, Middle and Low. About the Table 3. Results of moderation test of income level on the relationship between predictors and willingness to sort and recycle. And finally, in the Table 4. Results of moderation test of gender on the relationship between predictors and willingness to sort and recycle. But about the recent manuscript we used Anova test in Table 5. Anova-Test Analysis to Compare Between High, Middle- and Low-Income Households’ Levels in different variables of the Study which was conducted to determine if there were statistically significant differences between low and high-income groups based on their attitudes, awareness, perceived behavioral control, market incentive, Social Influence, and willingness. In research, an independent ANOVA test was because this study had three independent groups: low, middle, and high-income groups. And Table 5 presents the results of the hypotheses that follow were formulated and tested. In table 6 we used The Bonferroni and Scheffe Post Hoc Multiple Comparisons Test Showing Pairs of Means that are Significantly Different from Each Other. The significance is only in awareness between low-income and high-income groups and between the middle and high income therefore, it was supported in some instances and not supported by others. So, the data is different from the two papers which published. So, we can say Where the results were very different from the published research papers that were cited.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Nice improvements in the MS. But the refrences still don't have uniform pattern of journal names which can be addressed at proofreading stage.
Author Response
Nice improvements in the MS. But the references still don't have uniform pattern of journal names which can be addressed at proofreading stage.
Thank you very much for your comments and the references have been arranged according to the format of the journal and arranged alphabetically. They have been reviewed by the authors, with taking on consecration into account that some references have been updated to be compatible with the journal.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Again, references should be as in: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/instructions
Pictures and tables at the page 8 look like someone just throwed them there, formatting of text, tables and pictures is totally off.
Mainly I still have technical issues with paper (formatting), scientifically it is fine.
I guess it's ok.
Author Response
Pictures and tables at the page 8 look like someone just throwed them there, formatting of text, tables and pictures is totally off.
Mainly I still have technical issues with paper (formatting), scientifically it is fine.
Thank you very much for commenting and trying to make the research paper eligible for final publication. The fourth figure has been deleted and replaced with attached table No. 3, which describes the participants in the research and their percentages.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
Dear authors and editors of Sustainability,
In my opinion, the article in its present form is not up to the standard of the journal. If the editor disagrees, he can ignore my opinion and publish the paper. In that case, I request that the review information be made publicly available so that readers can read both my comments and the authors' responses.
The authors did not respond to the comments related to the basic requirements for the review paper, related to content and format. Also, no comment was given regarding the number of references and the time when they were published.
Author Response
Dear authors and editors of Sustainability,
In my opinion, the article in its present form is not up to the standard of the journal. If the editor disagrees, he can ignore my opinion and publish the paper. In that case, I request that the review information be made publicly available so that readers can read both my comments and the authors' responses.
The authors did not respond to the comments related to the basic requirements for the review paper, related to content and format. Also, no comment was given regarding the number of references and the time when they were published.
Thank you very much and the comments received from you to upgrade the research paper to be well qualified and to be clear to the reader. Indeed, the research paper has been reviewed and the authors were very keen that the research paper be well written and that there should be no repetition of the information and that the data was not mentioned in any research from the published research, and also some important references have been updated to be better. The references have also been arranged in the journal style and alphabetically. Thank you very much for the notes and trying to be a well-qualified research paper
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 3
Reviewer 4 Report
This manuscript is not acceptable as a review because it does not offer a comprehensive analysis of the existing literature within the research area, nor does it identify current gaps or problems. This is my opinion. If the editor disagrees, he can ignore my opinion and publish the paper.
