Environmental Sustainability Practices and Marketing Performance of Portable Water Producers in Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

The ability of the present generation of humans to conduct its activities without depleting the natural resources or undermining the efforts of future generations to meet up their own needs is the focus of environmental sustainability. The task of maintaining the balance of ecosystems and biodiversity ensures the protection and preservation of the natural resources needed for clean air, water, soil formation and climate regulation. The study focused on the environmental sustainability practices and marketing performance of portable water producers in Aba, Abia state, Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to ascertain the influence of eco-friendly packaging on the marketing performance of portable water producers; determine the influence of biodegradable packaging on the marketing performance of portable water producers; ;investigate the influence of recyclable packaging on the marketing performance of portable water producers; ascertain the influence of reusable packaging on the marketing performance of portable water producers and evaluate the influence of water sanitation on the marketing performance of portable water producers in Aba, Abia State. The study adopted survey research design. The population of the study consisted 1030 (water producers) and 1,275,000(water consumers) totaling1,276,030. A sample size of 685 (six hundred and eighty-five) was drawn from the population using Taro yamane statistical formula. Five hypotheses were formulated in the study, tested with simple regression analyses.. The major findings in the study showed that there is a significant and positive influence of reusable packaging and water sanitation on marketing performance of portable water producers in Aba, Abia State while eco-friendly packaging, biodegradable packaging and recyclable packaging showed insignificant influence on marketing performance of portable water producers in Aba.  Hence, we concluded that without stronger policy support and industry collaboration, the sustainability gap could widen, disadvantaging some market players. We, therefore, recommended that portable water companies should form alliances to share sustainability technologies and training and firms should run educational campaigns on the environmental benefits of their products, among others