Solid Waste Management in Nigeria: Problems and Issues

/ This paper is a presentation of the problems of solid waste management in Nigeria and certain important issues that must be addressed in order to achieve success. At the core of the problems of solid waste management are the absence of adequate policies, enabling legislation, and an environmentally stimulated and enlightened public. Government policies on the environment are piecemeal where they exist and are poorly implemented. Public enlightenment programs lacked the needed coverage, intensity, and continuity to correct the apathetic public attitude towards the environment. Up to now the activities of the state environmental agencies have been hampered by poor funding, inadequate facilities and human resources, inappropriate technology, and an inequitable taxation system. Successful solid waste management in Nigeria will require a holistic program that will integrate all the technical, economic, social, cultural, and psychological factors that are often ignored in solid waste programs.KEY WORDS: Solid waste; Management; Problems; Solutions; Nigeria     

Waste Management in Guangdong Cities: The Waste Management Literacy and Waste Reduction Preferences of Domestic Waste Generators

A questionnaire survey was conducted in 2002 on 1365 households in two prefectural-level cities in the Pearl River Delta, Jiangmen and Zhongshan. Three groups of issues are covered in this paper: 1) waste management literacy, concerns, and public participation; 2) waste recycling practices and the potential for waste avoidance; and 3) public environmental literacy. This study confirms findings from previous surveys and provides new information on important issues such as imposing monetary charges on waste and environmental activities, littering, source separation programs (SSPs), and public participation and expectations in local waste management. Saving up recyclable materials for redemption in waste depots is commonly practiced in mainland China regardless of the level of development of a city, although at the household level, high-income families tend to place less value on the revenues to be gained from redemption than lower income groups do. Data from the previous and the present studies indicate that such voluntary but largely economically driven waste recovery behavior diverts at least 10% of the household waste from the waste stream. Although uncompensated SSP is less appealing in the two cities than compensated SSP, it was found that when the median per capita income of a city reaches RMB2000 per month, a high participation rate for uncompensated waste recovery is more likely to occur. Education and income levels are the chief factors affecting littering behavior and the potential for waste avoidance. Contrary to general belief, the local Chinese community is active in microwaste management. The concern, however, is over the inability of the grassroots bureaucracy to deal with rising expectations for waste collection services and neighborhood cleanliness.     

Indigenous Waste Management Practices among the Ngwa of Southeastern Nigeria: Some Lessons and Policy Implications

Despite large investments that have gone into meeting the challenges of effective waste management in urban Nigeria, there is little evidence that such efforts are having their expected impacts. Consequently, much attention has been drawn to the need to evolve more sustainable waste management strategies. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews among the Ngwa of southeastern Nigeria, some useful indigenous solid and liquid waste management techniques, in the search for solutions to the current waste management crisis in urban Nigeria, have become evident. These indigenous techniques and practices, which include ingenious and careful waste segregation and sorting, selective burning and burying, composting and conversion, etc., offer scope for meeting the challenges and addressing the limitations of current waste management in urban areas, especially if they are supported by appropriate inputs from modern technology.     

Solid waste management and a new environmental edict: a case study from Ilorin,Kwara State,Nigeria

Summary The Government of Nigeria is increasingly aware of problems emanating from poor environmental sanitation. This awareness has led to various edicts both at the national and state levels on environmental sanitation with particular reference to solid waste management. Such an edict was critically examined for the Kwara State of Nigeria. At a glance, the edict looks impressive and timely, but a closer study reveals many loopholes some of which are outlined. Most important of these, is a failure to consider adequately the full requirements of the population. Many of the facilities needed for effective implementation are also grossly inadequate. Suggestions are made to make the campaign for increased environmental sanitation in the nation more successful.This paper further elaborates a theme first partially developed by Dr Adedibu inThe Environmentalist, Vol. 5, pp. 123–127.     

Municipal Solid Waste Management in the Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana

Municipal solid waste management in Accra, Ghana, is at present delivered in an unsustainable manner. Due to uncontrolled urbanisation, large quantities of waste are generated daily in Accra, and this exerts much pressure on an over strained solid waste management system. Coupled with weak institutional capacity, and lack of resources, both human and capital, the city authorities face difficulties in ensuring that all the waste generated in the city is collected for disposal. Home collection of waste is limited to high and, some middle income areas while the poor are left to contend with the problem on their own. This leads to indiscriminate disposal of waste in surface drains, canals and streams, creating unsanitary, and unsightly environments in many parts of the city.     

浙江省废纸再生产业的经验、问题及对策

文章分析了浙江省在废纸再生方面的3个典型模式的经验，指出了存在的问题并提出了建议对策。     

浙江省废旧金属再生利用的经验、问题及对策

文章分析了浙江省在废旧有色金属资源再生利用方面的几个典型模式的经验、存在问题及发展对策。     

城市生活垃圾处理的现状与管理研究

城市生活垃圾的处理与资源化是环保领域的一个难点,在管理上我国也缺乏相关的法律依据。本文介绍了城市生活垃圾处理的现状,同时针对构建我国城市生活垃圾管理体系提出了建议。     

中国废弃手机回收的管理策略研究

作为“城市矿产”的典型代表，废弃手机因其废弃数量大、稀贵金属品位高等特性而备受关注，但在推进废弃手机回收过程中存在诸多问题。本文以推动产业发展为立足点，梳理了影响废弃手机回收的两级制衡要素，通过构建GREY-DEMATEL模型，定量评估各要素对废弃手机回收的影响程度并确定优先等级。其中，完善废弃手机回收的管理制度及相应的经济扶持政策成为短期内应着力解决的核心问题，从长期发展来看，废弃手机的前端收集应成为产业关注的重点。基于此，本文立足于废弃手机回收的短期目标及长远发展，分别提出相应的管理策略，为再生资源产业的良性发展提供对策建议。     

Inclusive municipal solid waste management policy in Nigeria: engaging the informal economy in post-2015 development agenda

The problem of municipal solid waste has remained intractable in Nigeria despite the state’s central role in municipal solid waste management (MSWM). Policy and reforms of the MSWM system have invariably excluded the informal economy, with this exclusion frequently reinforced by uncritical implementation of neo-liberal development policies. Yet, the informal economy fortuitously remains active in solid waste collection, recycling, and disposal. This article is the aggregate outcome of an 8-year multi-stakeholder engagement in MSWM in Nigerian cities. It draws on insights from first-hand qualitative engagement with informal waste workers, interviews with key stakeholders, policy documents, and relevant literature to situate the Nigerian informal waste economy within current international development discourse. While highlighting the implications of social acceptance and inclusion of the waste economy in post-2015 MSWM and development policy, the study notes the lack of an articulate policy on MSWM in Nigeria and canvasses a specific policy to integrate the ubiquitous informal waste economy in MSWM. The paper suggests that inclusion per sé is central to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and argues that an inclusive MSWM policy in Nigeria is desirable as it maps onto the SDGs which aim to improve lives in the post-2015 development era.     

关于富伦造纸厂回收利用废弃牛奶盒的调研

介绍了浙江省富阳市富伦造纸厂开发回收利用废弃牛奶盒、饮料盒的分离再利用技术,实现了不可降解废弃物的循环利用。分析了企业扩大再生产后遇到的问题,提出了相应的对策建议。     

Social, cultural and structural influences on household waste recycling: A case study

The household-recycling rate in the Borough of Burnley, England in 2001/2002 was only half the national average of 12%. This research employed both quantitative and qualitative surveys in order to ascertain whether householders’ attitudes to recycling were contributory factors to the generally poor recycling performance and to investigate other social, cultural and structural influences. The Borough has a large Asian–British population concentrated in two deprived wards where recycling rates are particularly low, so special attention was given to ascertaining their attitudes towards recycling.The quantitative survey comprised a postal questionnaire sent to a random sample of 360 households drawn from the electoral register. The qualitative survey consisted of group interviews with the Asian–British population at local community centres and focus groups attended by volunteers from the quantitative study.The findings suggest that householders are very willing to participate in recycling, as shown by the almost 80% claiming to recycle paper, but that local recycling services are too unreliable and inconvenient to allow them to do so comprehensively. Asian–British attitudes to recycling were found to be no different to those of the wider population, with their low participation being linked to the higher priorities imposed upon them by economic deprivation. The findings are broadly in line with those of the literature in that recycling participation tends to be higher among more affluent and older people, but lower among less affluent and younger households, probably due in part to the availability of both storage space and time, with the implication that the Borough's preponderance of terraced housing militates against a high recycling rate. Policy recommendations to local authorities include the provision of bespoke recycling services to suit the variety of residential conditions across the UK, and the provision of regular feedback to householders regarding recycling services and performance.Further research is needed to identify non-recyclers and to explore how householders’ underlying psychological, cultural and social attitudes to recycling impinge upon recycling and participation rates.     

我国废旧手机回收利用现状与对策分析

随着手机用户的增加，每年会产生大量的废旧手机。废旧手机一方面对环境构成潜在危害，一方面又具有回收利用的价值。本文针对我国目前废旧手机回收利用的现状，提出手机回收利用的措施，以有效应对电子垃圾污染，并实现资源的循环利用。     

A survey of rainstorms as weather hazards in southern Nigeria

This paper examines the role played by winds as a weather hazard in urban centres of southern Nigeria. It is observed that strong winds associated with rainstorms at the beginning of the rainy season are a threat to urban centres as they directly affect buildings and infrastructure. Wind hazards also have indirect social and economic consequences on the communities affected. Much of the damage done to buildings is as a result of inappropriate building designs that have not taken into consideration the wind environment. An inventory of reports of damage caused by winds during the first half of 1995 showed that different towns in eight states were affected. These incidences occurred mainly at the beginning of the rainy season when strong winds are associated with linesqualls. Although wind related hazards have not been adequately acknowledged as an environmental problem that needs to be properly addressed in Nigeria, as in the case of flooding, results have shown that it is a problem that requires government intervention in view of global climate change and consequent extreme weather events. Wind hazard awareness and preparedness as integral aspects of development policy and planning of the environment is therefore needed in West African countries where linesqualls are very significant rain producers.     

Public Perception of Flood Hazard in the Niger Delta,Nigeria

Summary Our study had the aim of understanding how floodplain dwellers regard the risk of flooding. About 500 questionnaires were administered to landowners in the selected settlements in the study area using systematic random sampling. The results of analysis show, among other things, that the population regards most important the causes of floods as heavy, prolonged rainfall and river overflow. Nevertheless, they have little knowledge of the frequency of severe floods, and flood alleviation schemes. Most flood victims do not get compensation or relief during flood disaster, and the reason why they remain in the study area is influenced by their occupations, especially fishing, subsistence agriculture, and the presence of crude oil in the region which has attracted many migrants who cannot afford the high cost of accommodation and are therefore forced to live in vulnerable areas of the floodplain. Finally, the study concludes that flood control in the region needs the cooperation of government, community efforts and an enlightenment programmes through environmental education and mass media.     

Discharge of oilfield-produced water in nueces bay,texas: A case study

During oil and gas production, water is often extracted from geological formations along with the hydrocarbons. These "produced waters" have been discharged to Nueces Bay since the turn of the century. These effluents were found to be highly toxic, and sediments in the vicinity of the discharges were also toxic. We developed a map of wells and produced-water discharge sites in the vicinity of Nueces Bay and identified numerous unplugged wells suitable for conversion to produced water disposal wells. An economic analysis of conversion to subterranean injection of produced water indicates that most of the wells currently in production could pay out the cost of conversion to injection in one to three years. The use of one injection well for two or more water-producing wells could yield greater savings. Wells that could not support the cost of injection are small producers, and their loss would not constitute a major loss of jobs or dollars to the area. This study could serve as a useful model for evaluating the economic feasibility of conversion to injection in other areas of Texas and Louisiana.     

Recycling for small island tourism developments: Food waste composting at Sandals Emerald Bay,Exuma, Bahamas

The ability for small islands to meet sustainability goals is exacerbated by the costs of transporting goods on, and then, wastes off the islands. At small scales, recycling can be prohibitive and complicated by labor costs; the need to profitably recycle and manage solid waste output from tourism is complicated by scale and available technologies. A multi-year study documents the amount of solid waste generated on Great Exuma (Exuma), The Commonwealth of The Bahamas since 2010 with one year of benchmarking, then limited recycling of food waste generation by an all-inclusive resort, Sandals Emerald Bay (SEB). For the island of Exuma, the rapid increase in the rate of accumulation of solid waste associated with a large destination resort has led to an increase in pests such as rats and flies, along with an increased occurrence of fires associated with unburied solid waste. Solid waste has accumulated faster than the island solid waste management can absorb. SEB kitchen and hotel operations contributes an estimated 36% of all solid waste generated on the island, about 1752 t¹ out of a total of 4841 t generated on the island in 2013 (exclusive of vegetation waste). Based on 4 weeks of benchmarking, 48.5% of all the waste coming out of the SEB resort is compostable, organic waste, but waste composition varies widely over time. Exuma Waste Management (EWM) and Recycle Exuma (RE), both privately-held Bahamian businesses, worked for one year (2012–2013) with SEB resort to implement a benchmarking and pilot recycling project to meet Earth Check green resort certification requirements. This paper outlines the costs and resources required for food waste recycling and some barriers to implementing more effective solid waste management for the tourism industry on small islands.     

Strategies for combating urban flooding in a developing nation: A case study from Ondo,Nigeria

Summary Flooding has become an inherent problem in most urban centres close to the Nigerian coast. In the last decade it has extended to large settlements in the interior of the country where rainfall is more sporadic. This study has revealed that various socio-cultural activities have promoted flooding in many of these Nigerian urban environments. These activities are characterised by stream or river channel encroachment and abuse, increased paved surfaces and poor solid waste disposal techniques, due to a high level of illiteracy, a low degree of community awareness, poor environmental education, ineffective town planning laws and poor environmental management. Govenment, at various levels, needs to address these issues.His special field of interest is in natural resource management, focusing on the implications of environmental degradation and sustainable development.     

Nutrient requirements for the growth of waterleaf (Talinum triangulare) in Uyo metropolis, Nigeria

The all-season vegetable known as waterleaf (Talinum triangulare) is extensively grown in Nigeria's metropolistan market gardens. This paper examines the soil compositions of some of the cultivation areas for this crop to determine the impacts of its very intensive repetitive cultivation. In general, the regular application of organic manures and mineral fertilizers has maintained the fertility status of the market garden soils. Multiple regression analysis indicated that base saturation, available phosphorus and organic matter were the most significant determinants to variations in crop production.