IMPACT OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ON SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF PLASTIC WASTE IN PORT HARCOURT

Abstract

The paper focused on investigating the impact of public participation on the sustainable plastics waste management in Port Harcourt. Public participation was assessed using public environmental cognition, public environmental emotions, and public willingness behaviour, three dimensions of sustainable waste plastic management were considered, namely; Social, economic and environmental dimensions. Analytical cross-sectional research design was adopted. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to sample 400 respondents from five communities in Port Harcourt namely Diobu, Borokiri, Bundu-Ama, D-line and Azubie Town power using Taro Yamane sample size determination formula. The instrument for data collection was structured questionnaire designed based on 5-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics analysis (percentage and weighted mean score WMS). Multi-linear regression analysis was used for data analysis. There is high level of public participation in terms of environmental cognition (WMS = 3.01>3.00)), environmental emotion (WMS = 3.58>3.00)) and willingness behaviours (WMS = 4.00>3.00). and there is high level of sustainable plastic waste management in Port Harcourt both socially (WMS = 4.45>3.00), economic (WMS = 4.00>3.00) and environmental (WMS = 4.64>3.00), Regression analysis showed that public participation factors (B=0.716, p=0.000) have positive and significant impacts on sustainable plastic waste management at significant level of 0.05. It was concluded that public participation initiatives have positive and substantial impact on sustainable plastic waste management in Port Harcourt.