Navigating Sustainability: A study on Waste Management Practices Adopted by the Tourism Industry in the Darjeeling and Kalimpong Districts

Abstract

Regarding the waste management in Darjeeling and Kalimpong, the waste handling techniques majorly include burning and throwing the garbage into open space. Such irresponsible waste dumping and careless incineration are posing a serious risk to health in this region. Considering the volume, a single town of Darjeeling can generate 30-25 MT of waste per day, and this figure can double during the peak tourist season. Thus, this study understands the necessity to investigate the waste management practices in the tourism industry of this region. Further, the tourism industry, which largely supports the livelihood pattern of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, is not placed or studied under the waste management literature. So, intending to study the factors that affect sustainable waste management, this study includes variables such as attitude and literacy of waste management combined with firm-specific effects due to the existence of different types of enterprises serving the tourism industry. Gathering responses through a self-administered questionnaire from the enterprises engaged in the tourism industry of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, this study uses structural equation modeling to estimate the degree and direction of the relationships. The study finds that both waste management literacy and attitude towards waste management at the firm level have an extremely important role towards the adoption of sustainable waste management practices. Further, the formal training programs attended by the enterprises also have a significant role towards the adoption of a sustainable waste management model. These findings have important theoretical implications, considering the sustainable waste management model and the tourism industry