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WASTE DISPOSAL AND LANDFILL: POTENTIAL HAZARDS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Waste cannot be separated from human activities regardless of their socio economic and cultural development. United Nations Department of Statistics (2005) considers waste to be materials that are not prime products for which the generator has no further use for production, transformation or consumption, and wants to dispose. Waste may be generated during the extraction of raw materials, the processing of raw materials into intermediate and final products, the consumption of final products, and other human activities. Residual materials recycled or reused at the place of generation are often excluded. Waste is defined as any material unused and regarded as worthless or unwanted (James, 2010). Waste is generated at the level of household, industrial and agricultural activities and is directly linked to human development, both technologically and socially (Bandara, 2007). The compositions of  different  wastes have varied over time and location, with industrial development  and  innovation being  directly linked to increase in volume and diversity of waste materials (Baud, 2004).

waste disposal and landfill is the  collection,  transportation,  processing, treatment, recycling or disposal of waste materials to reduce their adverse effects on human health or amenities.  The management  of waste therefore, should focus on how to find the value and redirect it back to  the  community. Unfortunately, the unorganized process of collection and dumping results in complex mixture, the reby making separation and the entire waste disposal and landfill process very expensive (Sharama, 2005). All human activities generate waste, though industrial waste have some peculiarities particularly for areas with industrial activities.

Despite the increasingly urgent calls for sustainable development, environmental issues have continued to emerge as major aspects of discussion in the problems of economic growth and development. Such issues were reported to center on global warming; noise, atmospheric, soil and water pollutions, declining of forest resources and Industrial wastes management ( Dutta and Boise, 2008).

Industrial waste is said to be any material which comes from manufacturing processes and industrial sources which can be in form of solid, liquid and gases (Theisen and Vigil, 1993). It can broadly be defined as any liquid, gaseous, or solid substance, not sewage, resulting from any manufacturing or industry production process (Tchobanoglous et al.,1993). The waste produced is no longer useful for further industrial production and manufacturing process. Industrial waste could be hazardous and non-hazardous. The hazardous industrial waste affects the environment and human health and the non- hazardous poses nuisance to the