WASTE SORTING IN A FRONT-LINE CITY: OPINIONS OF KHARKIV RESIDENTS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the problem of social attitude towards waste sorting in exceptional conditions. The author considers this problem within the framework of the general problematic of positions and practices of environmental consumption. The focus of the study is the peculiarities of attitudes towards environmental waste management practices in atypical conditions. The article examines Kharkiv as a front-line city in which military security threats come to the fore, create additional threats to food security, and at the same time disguise them as less important. The goal is to find out how mass consciousness in war conditions distributes empirical material for analysis – an online survey of 309 Kharkiv residents. The results of the study show that a positive attitude towards environmental waste sorting practices has been formed in the minds of Kharkiv residents. However, there is a gap between the declarative level of attitude and the implementation of practices. This gap can be explained both by the lack of a materially designed environment for the formation of sustainable waste sorting practices, and by the shortcomings of the information environment. At the same time, military living conditions in a front-line city do not affect the opinions of citizens about the importance of waste sorting.