Solid waste management practices in fast-food restaurants in Lagos megacity: An empirical analysis of customers’ perceptions

This study investigated customers' perceptions of solid waste management (SWM) practices in fast-food restaurants in Lagos megacity. Adopting a cross-sectional survey design, a multistage sampling technique was used to sample 170 customers of fast-food restaurants. Data collected were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that more males patronise fast-food restaurants but most customers were of the youth population. Most customers visit fast-food restaurants at least once a week, spend between N 1000 and N 5000 ($1.23 and $6.13) per visit, and prefer takeaway services. Plastic, food waste, and polythene are the most generated waste by fast-food restaurants, and their generation is primarily hinged on consumption inevitability. More than half of the customers never dispose of waste within fast-food restaurants, which suggests that the majority are engaged in takeaway services. The most evident SWM initiative adopted by fast-food restaurants is using signage to promote proper waste disposal. The Chi-square test revealed that patronage frequency does not significantly influence the waste disposal practice in fast-food restaurants (χ 2 =12.459, p = 0.0189). The regression analysis also revealed waste composition significantly impacts customers' engagement in SWM practices with three out of six predictors: food waste (B =0.508, p = 0.000), plastic (B =0.391, p = 0.008) and cans/tins (B =0.369, p = 0.004) exerting the most significant influence. The study concludes that customer engagement in developing SWM strategies and aligning the strategy to the existing SWM regulations in Lagos State is key to sustainable SWM practices in fast-food restaurants in Lagos megacity. • The youth population constitute a majority of fast-food restaurant • Key waste generated at fast-food restaurants are plastics, food waste and polythene. • Customer involvement in solid waste management at fast-food restaurants is marginal. • Fast-food restaurants mostly use signage to promote solid waste disposal. • Customer engagement is key to sustainable solid waste management at fast-food restaurant.