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RECYCLING AND REFUSE: ALTERNATIVES TO WASTE MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1         Background to the Study

Waste is defined as materials of solid or semi solid character that the possessor no longer considers of sufficient value to retain (Gilpin, 1976).The New York State  Department of Environmental Conservation ( 2007 ) also defined solid wastes in simple words as any discarded (abandoned or considered waste-like) materials. There are different types of waste: municipal waste (including household and commercial waste), industrial waste (including manufacturing), hazardous waste, construction and demolition waste, mining waste, waste from electrical and electronic equipments, biodegradable municipal waste, packaging waste, and agricultural waste. Solid wastes can be solid, liquid, and semi-solid or containerized gaseous material. Also, there are various sources of waste: residential, industrial, commercial, institutional, construction and demolition waste; municipal services manufacturing process, agriculture. Municipal solid waste (MSW) is defined to include refuse from households, nonhazardous solid waste from industrial, commercial and institutional establishments (including hospitals), market waste, yard waste, and street sweepings.  MSW is defined by Cointreau (1982) as non-air and sewage emissions created within and disposed of by a municipality, including household garbage, commercial refuse, construction and demolition debris, dead animals, and abandoned vehicles. Municipal solid waste is generally made up of paper, vegetable matter, plastics, metals, textiles, rubber, and glass (USEPA, 2002). The solid waste management problem in Nigerian cities is becoming more alarming. The volume and range of solid wastes generated daily in Nigeria has been increasing within the last few years. This is mainly due to the high population growth, urbanization, industrialization and general economic growth (Ogwueleka, 2004). Cities are regarded as the most efficient agents of production (Hardoy, Mitlin and Satherthwaite, 2001).

This population increase compounds the problems of solid waste management. Worse still, government agencies responsible for managing solid wastes, especially in urban areas are either nonexistent or ineffective. Urban land use becomes complex as the city grows in population and physical size and so does the solid waste generation increase in volume and varieties. Urban land uses vary from residential, commercial, industrial, institutional; and others, with each category generating its own peculiar type of solid waste.

However, residential land use constitutes the single most important generator of solid waste in Nigeria urban areas (Adegoke, 1990). Because of the complexity of the household wastes, the socioeconomic structure of the urban population becomes a major determinant of the spatial structure of solid waste problems in our cities. Uwadiegwu (2003) in a study noted that the quantity of municipal solid waste produced depends upon the living standard of the residents, urbanization and industrialization. Okoye (2004) identified household size, income level, level of technological advancement and socio-economic status as factors that affect the quantity of solid waste generation, but however, noted that a single factor may not on its own constitutes a difference in the quantity of waste generated by a household. Afon (2005), in a study of waste generation in Oyo State, Nigeria, discovered that as education, income and social status increase, per capita waste generation declines. This, he explained is partly influenced by the differences in employment/livelihood pattern in the area. On the main cause of solid waste crises in Nigeria, Igbodobe and Anyata (2009) identify the problems of insufficient available data, funding, poor understanding of solid waste management and residents‘ attitude.