Influence of Apparel Consumption and Disposal Patterns of Families on the Environment in Enugu State

Abstract

The major purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of apparel consumption and disposal patterns of families on the environment in Enugu State. Eight research questions were answered and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population for the study consisted 1,633,096 women in three senatorial zones of Enugu State. Taro Yamane formular was used to determine the sample size of 400 women for the study. Descriptive survey research design was used for the study. Structured questionnaire was used to generate data for the study. This instrument was face validated by three experts from Department of Vocational Teacher Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The questionnaire was pilot tested with a sample of 20 Women drawn from Anambra State. Cronbach Alpha reliability test was used to determine the internal consistency of the instrument and this yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.76. Data were analysed using mean statistics for research questions and t-test was used to test the null hypotheses. There are relationships that exists between the environment of Enugu state and the families apparel consumption and disposal patterns. The findings of the study include different methods of apparel consumption like buying ready to wear apparel or fairly used apparel, using apparel to cover nakedness or for different occasions. The study also found out the apparel disposal methods adopted by Enugu State families as burning, handing down to younger ones. The study also revealed the effect of apparel consumption and disposal patterns of Enugu State families on the environment as air pollution and prevention of normal growth and production of agricultural products. Based on the findings the study recommends that textile education and environmental education be introduced at all levels of education including adult literacy education centres, and vocational training centres. Also curriculum planners, educational administrators should organize seminars, workshops, conferences and training programmes for both urban and rural families concerned.