The inhabitants of the Transcarpathian region (the pilot project area in Ukraine) are the main consumers of various municipal waste management services, but only a small fraction of them are usually aware of what waste management actually means and the real volume of such services. Moreover, very often people are unaware of the potential health, safety and environmental risks of waste management or the unconditional benefits of waste recycling and resource conservation. Support from the public is extremely important as the uninformed and uninformed public is unlikely to:
- to support, as a whole, the local authorities of the region in the fulfillment of their functions in improving sanitary conditions, for example, to cooperate on initiatives such as anti-pollution campaigns, etc.;
- to pressure local authorities to provide higher, much better, higher quality municipal services, for example, to remove illegal landfills and to improve the health standards of the population accordingly;
- be aware of the existence and use of recycling facilities (especially for PET bottles);
- cooperate in the field of waste management (sign paid service agreements) or be actively involved in improving the cleanliness of the region.