Exploring alternatives to plastics food packaging. A study in Berekum municipality

Abstract

The resea rch was to explo re alte rnatives food packaging mate rial othe r than the use of plastics bags by small scale food vendo r in Be rekum and it possible effect on the envi ronmental. The objectives of the study we re to examine othe r possible alte rnative biodeg radable packaging mate rial such as using leaf and pape r to package food othe r than plastic p roducts by food vendo rs; to assess the knowledge of food vendo rs on the health implications of foods packaged in plastic p roducts as well as their knowledge on the effects of plastics on the envi ronment; and also to examine the pe rceptions and attitudes of consume rs on the plastic waste disposal. The case study design was employed with small scale foods vendo rs and consume rs as the ta rgeted population. Purposive and convenient sampling techniques we re used to select a sample of size of 50 respondents fo r the study. Open- ended na r rative, face-to-face gene ral inte rview guide app roach and obse rvation we re used to elicit response fo r the study. Test- retest technique was used to dete rmine the reliability of the inst rument. Data was analysed thematically. The study found out that: most p redominant food packaging mate rials used by the vendo rs was plastic bags. Again packaging mate rial choice was not based on any scientific resea rch o r medical analyses to asce rtain the impact of the mate rial on the nut rient o r health. The study also revealed most of the waste identified we re plastics solid waste as a result of it been used as a packaging mate rial which has been disposed of afte r use. It was concluded that plastic afte r use se rves as a majo r mate rial fo r envi ronmental haza rd such as ai r and land pollution which poses dange r to human life and plant, it was also concluded that consumers think it is the sole responsibility of the government to manage waste. The study University of Education, Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh xiii concluded that lack of knowledge on health implications on the mate rial choice possibly could be linked with respondent’s high rate of illiteracy and lack of nutritional education. It was recommended that alte rnative packaging mate rials like leaves and pape rs should be encou raged and be made mo re available and affo rdable fo r road-side food vendo rs to use to avoid ove r reliance on plastic bags. It was also recommended that education should be made to sensitize food vendo r on the health implication on the use of plastic bags as packaging mate rials. The study also recommended that the municipal assembly should make bins available for appropriate waste disposal. It was again recommended that food vendo rs should be given enough t raining regula rly to reso rt to mo re bio deg radable and envi ronmental f riendly mate rial like pape r and leaves fo r the safety of the envi ronment