ZeroPlastic Peradeniya Launches BREATHE 360° Research on Undergraduate Environmental Habits

The Research and Development Avenue of ZeroPlastic Society, University of Peradeniya, carried out BREATHE 360°, a research-driven initiative designed to examine how the daily habits of undergraduates affect the environment. The project centered on a formal research study that explored the relationship between environmental attitudes and waste management behaviour among members of the university community.

The initiative was organized in response to a recognized gap in awareness among undergraduates regarding their individual environmental footprint. Many within the university community are not fully conscious of how routine activities, including transport choices, food consumption, and plastic usage, contribute to environmental harm. BREATHE 360° set out to address this gap through structured research rather than assumptions.

The core activity of the project was a research study conducted under the topic “The Influence of Environmental Attitude on Waste Management Behaviour Among Undergraduates in the Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya.” An online questionnaire was developed and distributed among undergraduates across different faculties to gather data on their daily habits, waste generation patterns, environmental awareness, and attitudes towards waste management. The collected responses were then systematically analyzed to calculate carbon footprint patterns and to explore how environmental attitudes relate to waste management behaviour.

Through this analysis, the project identified factors that encourage or hinder environmentally responsible behaviour among undergraduates. The research generated findings that offer a clearer picture of existing habits and attitudes within the university population, providing a factual basis that can inform future awareness efforts and environmental programming.

The value of the initiative lies in its evidence-based approach. Rather than relying on general messaging, BREATHE 360° produced actual data drawn from the u…