EFFECTIVE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT AS A BOOSTER TO NIGERIA ECONOMY

EFFECTIVE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT AS A BOOSTER TO NIGERIA ECONOMY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

One common thread hotly debated to have greatly influenced societal welfare and health in recent time is the widely shared and strongly held values that underlie and define solid waste management. Hence, the evaluation of the effect of solid waste management on economic conditions and health of average citizenry has become imperative and assumed heightened significance in every forum locally and on the international scene. But what exactly is solid waste and solid waste management and why should it matter for financial and economic decisions? Momodu, Dimuna and Dimuna (2011) define solid wastes to comprise all the wastes arising from human and animal activities that are normally solid, discarded as useless or unwanted. They also include byproducts of process lines or materials that may be required by law to be disposed of (Okecha 2000). Solid wastes can be classified in a number of ways; on the basis of sources, environmental risks, utility and physical property. On the basis of source, solid wastes are again classified as: municipal solid wastes, industrial solid waste, commercial solid wastes, institutional solid waste and agricultural solid wastes (IJSDGE, 2013). According to the Glossary of Environment Statistics (1997), solid waste management on the other hand refers to the supervised handling of solid waste material from generation at the source through the recovery processes to disposal. Similarly, Abdulahi, Ajibike, Man-Ugwueje and Ndububa (2014) defined solid waste management as the generation, prevention, characterization, monitoring, treatment, handling, reuse and residual disposition of solid wastes. Apparently, all human activities give rise to residual materials which may not be of immediate use and thereby constitute waste which is ultimately emitted to the environment. In recent time, the problem of solid waste management has become a debilitating factor towards sustainable development in Nigeria. There is a growing solid waste disposal problem which is gradually approaching crises level due to urbanization and