Household waste management in a secondary city of Bangladesh through social, institutional and behavioural practices

This qualitative study examines why household waste management continues to underperform in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, despite formal municipal arrangements. It investigates how governance conditions and everyday household practices interact to shape waste-management behaviours and identifies potential leverage points for intervention. Data from key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews were analysed using the Framework Method and reflexive thematic analysis. The analysis integrated Social Practice Theory (SPT), the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, and the Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behaviour (COM-B) model. The findings indicate that unreliable communication of collection schedules, weak enforcement and incentive structures, limited monitoring, inadequate fleet capacity, and access constraints undermine service reliability. At the household level, limited storage space and container availability, uneven practical knowledge of segregation, and declining motivation associated with perceived lack of municipal reciprocity constrain effective waste-management practices. Viewed through the COM-B framework, these conditions primarily restrict physical opportunity and weaken motivation, thereby destabilising routine waste segregation. The study translates these findings into a policy action matrix proposing reliable ward-level collection schedules, covered neighbourhood containers, appropriately sized two-bin systems accompanied by practical demonstrations, and transparent route-monitoring mechanisms.