Public Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude and Perception on Microplastics Pollution Around Lagos Lagoon

Abstract

Microplastic pollution is now globally flagged as a foremost menace to livelihoods, biodiversity, and public health due the pervasive nature of plastic wastes, poor knowledge of its ecological impact and poor attitude towards sustainable waste management practices. Hence, this paper explores public awareness, knowledge, attitude and perception on Microplastic pollution and its ecological health implication through a survey data collected from residents, students, fishermen and local tourist around Lagos Lagoon, a significant area in Lagos. Findings revealed that though awareness on microplastics was apparently high (over 50%), however, public knowledge was fairly acceptable and poor perception on Microplastic pollution was observed. Respondents (with a mean attitude score of 3.40±1.485) generally shows a good attitude towards learning more on this subject and a shared commitment to support government through cleanup volunteering and advocacy. In light of this findings, this study recommends that government, academia and relevant stakeholders should intensify efforts to educate the public more on issues of public health importance through massive campaigns, learned community activities and strategies that may reinforce positive environmental attitude.

Is Bisphenol a (Bpa) a Public Health Concern? A Cross-Sectional Study of Public Knowledge, Attitude and Risk Perception in Southwestern Part of Nigeria

“…Positive attitude such as willingness to share safety information about issues of public health concern, and community participation in public health programs are widely considered as positive indicators to achieving a sustainable healthy environment (Omoyajowo et al, 2021, Omoyajowo et al, 2023. Similar study observed similar great attitude in public willingness to co-operate with the government on mitigation efforts towards reducing Microplastic pollution (Alkyildiz et al, 2015, Omoyajowo et al, 2021a. The public may utilize different information sources to learn about new and emerging health risks via internet, social media, government agencies, etc.…”

“…(Ogunyebi et al, 2019, Omoyajowo et al, 2024. Within this foregoing context is the discourse on emerging contaminants (ECs), also known as contaminants of emerging concerns (CECs) (Dulio et al, 2018, Omoyajowo et al, 2021a. ECs could be described as a group of natural and synthetic chemicals and chemical metabolites which are presently not monitored in the environment but are perceived to portend a high threat to the health of human and other ecological receptors (Geissen et al, 2015).…”

Crafting a Scientific Framework to Mitigate Microplastic Impact on Ecosystems

“…Specifically, 41% of the respondents fell into this category, and an even more significant majority, surpassing 63%, believed that the government is responsible for controlling MPs. This lack of awareness was more pronounced among educated populations, with social media identified as the primary source for self-education, a finding presented by [87]. In a similar survey, ref.…”

Identification of the spatial patterns of air pollution and its sources in Ogui New Layout, South-East of Nigeria, using remote sensing and GIS technology

“…Table 2 shows the likely sources of the pollutants. It has been established that burning of fossil fuels, industrial waste, combustion of plastic and organic products, incomplete combustion of synthetic substances and a number of other anthropogenic factors negatively affect air quality (Adams and Kanaroglou, 2016;Ebuete et al, 2019;Koleayo et al, 2021;Omoyajowo et al, 2022;Glory et al, 2023). Ogui New Layout is heavily populated with lots of existing and upcoming industries.…”