Insights into the factors influencing the use of plastic products for water packaging and their sustainable recycling potential

Abstract

Plastic waste negatively affects our environment, and an assessment

of their usage would be beneficial for promoting sustainable

recycling. The extent of plastic use for water packaging and

influencing factors were investigated in this work. Data were

obtained via questionnaires and oral interviews with 700 randomly

sampled respondents in Effurun, Nigeria. Basic descriptive

statistics, Analysis of Variance and correlation coefficient were used

to explore the data. It was found that more than 65 and 95 % of

respondents consume plastic-packaged water at home and away

from home, respectively, and an average of 4 sachets of 60 cl is

consumed daily. There was a weak correlation (all values less than

0.31) between the demographics such as age, education, sex,

income, and employment type with respondents' responses.

However, significant variations were observed in the preference for

sachets or bottles for different education classes and employment

types. Also, the quantity that different age groups or education

classes may consume varies significantly. To conclude, the

population of locals can easily be used to quantify obtainable waste

from plastic water packages regardless of demographics. However,

consideration should be given to age and education distribution for

proper planning or citing a recycling.