Objective The knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of residents in Guangzhou on garbage classification was investigated to provide orientation for Guangzhou governmental agency to carry out urban waste classification work and create a beautiful environment city.

Methods The residents in 25 communities of Guangzhou were surveyed with self-designed questionnaire by random sampling. The full scores of KAP in this questionnaire were 15, 18 and 10, respectively.

Results A total of 1 256 questionnaires were distributed, and 1 243 valid questionnaires were returned with a response rate of 98.96%. The average scores of KAP of Guangzhou residents' on garbage classification were (6.15±2.87), (10.98±2.37) and (4.25±1.67), respectively, among which there were positively correlations (r_s=0.485-0.754, P < 0.05 or 0.01); 95.74% of respondents thought that they need to receive regular training on garbage classification. The multivariate linear regression analysis showed that KAP scores were affected by the residents' characterization, such as age, education level and previous training and experience related to garbage classification.

Conclusion Residents in Guangzhou were willing to do garbage classification, but their knowledge on garbage classification was relatively lower, and their actual practice was not satisfactory. The governmental agency should consider this actual situation, strengthen the training of residents' relevant knowledge, and improve their attitude and actual behavior.