Exploring alternatives to plastic food packaging in the Berekum municipality

Abstract

The aim of the study was to explo re alte rnative food packaging mate rial othe r than the use of plastic bags by small scale food vendo rs in Be rekum Municipality and its possible effects on the envi ronment. The case study design was employed with small scale foods vendo rs and consume rs as the ta rgeted population. Pu rposive 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. 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 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.