Perceptions and acceptability of single-use plastic and alternative food takeaway containers at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa

Food outlets at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) mainly use expanded polystyrene (EPS) packaging for takeaway food. This study investigated the awareness levels of consumers (UJ staff and students) about the environmental impact of single-use food packaging mismanagement. It also studied their perceptions and acceptability of alternative food packaging. For data collection, an online questionnaire was sent out via uLink (a student and staff messaging portal at UJ) from the 9th of October 2021 to the 23rd of February 2022. Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS v 28.0.0 were then used to perform descriptive and chi-squared (χ2) tests, respectively. The results showed a statistically significant difference (χ2 (4, n = 299) = 15.74, p = 0.00, Cramer’s V = 0.23) between the environmental awareness levels of staff and students at UJ. However, there was no statistically significant difference (χ² (3, n = 204) = 6.60, p = .09, Cramer’s V = 0.18) in the alternative food packaging preferences between staff and students. Respondents generally showed a preference for paper takeaway containers (51.0%), followed by bringing their containers from home (23.0%) and using reusable containers provided by food outlets (21.1%). Consequently, paper food packaging received a higher acceptability score of over 60% with no statistically significant difference in its ratings between staff and students (χ² (4, n = 206) = 1.64, p = 0.80, Cramer’s V = 0.09). These results call for a campus-wide intervention to raise awareness among students and staff about the detrimental impacts of mismanagement of single-use plastic waste.