Abstract
The study investigated the generation of the solid waste in Achara layout
and the effects of INTERNET WORK ENGINEERING LTD (a private
sector participant (PSP) engaged by ENSEPA, Enugu in solid waste
collection, transportation and disposal for Achara layout area of Enugu
city. In the course of the study, 100 households in the layout were
randomly chosen from the 10 streets that fall within the randomly
sampled blocks when the layout was divided into 100 blocks, and the
solid waste generated by these households was stored into
components, and weighed with a weigh balance graduated in kilogram
(kg). Also, questionnaire surveys were carried out for the households’
studied and informal interview for the enterprise (PSP) that manages the
waste was conducted. Using correlation analysis, the study established
that there is a strong positive correlation (? = 0.99, p< 0.05) between
quantity of solid waste generated and household size. A high coefficient
of determination (98%) expl
INTRODUCTION
Cities historically have been centers of industry, commerce and
magnets for millions of people. As Cities grow ever larger, they
consume more and more natural resources to meet the rising demand
for food, water, energy, goods and services, both from people and
industry. These have made cities to have a huge impact on the natural
environment. One of the most evident is the proliferation of solid
wastes. Government is concerned about the increasing costs of
managing these solid wastes and maintaining the quality of the
environment.
Solid waste has been defined by tchobanoglous et al (1977), as all the
wastes arising from human and animal activities that are normally solid
and that are discarded as useless or unwanted. Okonkwo and Eboatu
(1999) classified solid waste according to source.
i. Domestic or Residential waste generated from household
preparations such as cooking and serving of food.
ii. Municipal (both residential and commercial) waste generated from
households, offices, hotels, markets, hospitals and schools such
as cardboard, plastics, glass, paper etc.
iii. Industrial waste generated from construction, tanneries,
fabrication, breweries, etc such as metal scraps, hop residues etc.
iv. Agricultural waste emanating from the farm activities such as
slaughter house residues, paddy husks, cassava stalks, corn
residues, millet residues etc.
v. Hazardous waste from nuclear power plants, laboratories, hospitals,
pharmaceuticals, etc such as heavy metals, hypodermic needles,
bandages, out dated drugs etc.
For the purposes of this study, residential solid waste is chosen.
These wastes can be categorized into two:
i. Decomposable such as food wastes – animal, fruit, or vegetable
residues.
ii. Non-decomposable such as tin cans, glass, aluminum cans, plastics,
dirt etc.
Cities of most developing economies need to take steps to solve this
increasing menace of solid wastes. This can be achieved through a
sustainable solid waste management programme. Solid waste
management has been defined by Tchobanoglous et al (1977) as that
discipline associated with the control of generation, storage, collection,
transfer and transport, processing and disposal of solid wastes in a
manner that is in accord with the best principles of public health,
economics, engineering, conservation, aesthetics and other
environmental considerations, that is also responsible to public
attitudes.
Achara layout area grew more rapidly in residence than some other
areas of Southern part of Enugu City. The buildings are mostly block of
flats. The elevated, open-sided dumps built in a number of locations in
this area have been demolished and replaced with large bins and skips
by Enugu State Environmental Protection Agency (ENSEPA) at
strategic locations in the area. This brought about frequent overflowing
of dumps unto the streets due to irregular evacuation from dumpsites to
landfills. These large bins and skips soon disappeared, hence many
“illegal” dumpsites developed along the street in the Layout.
In an attempt to solve the intractable problem of solid waste in Enugu
City, ENSEPA recently involved INTERNET WORK ENGINEERING
LTD under their Private Sector Participants (PSP) in solid waste
management. They are to assist the agency in solid waste collection,
transportation and disposal in Achara Layout Area. The operation of this
PSP in Achara layout area involves the use of open tippers. Their mode
of operation involves the ringing of a bell as a signal to the residents to
come and throw in their wastes. This continues as the tipper moves
from street to street to collect the solid waste generated. There is no
definite time and day for their operation from observations. Thus,
residents dump their solid wastes along the streets of Achara layout.
These have presented an unwholesome environment that is
aesthetically ugly.
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY PROBLEM
Cities have a huge impact on the natural environment. As cities
grow larger, they consume more food, water, energy and goods
and services both from people and industry. So as cities continue
to attract more people and produce and consume more, more
wastes are generated. How to manage these wastes have called
for social revolution by individuals, corporate bodies, social
organizations, clubs and governments and so on.
The World Environment Day, 5th June each year, declared by the
United Nations General Assembly at a meeting in Stockholm, in
1972 was meant to be observed by all Nations. This world body
recognized the fundamental right of man to live in an environment
worthy of his dignity and well-being.
The UN Environmental Day celebration therefore was aimed at
creating awareness in the peoples of the world of all races, the
need for clean, healthy, comfortable and a safe environment.
In developing economies, alarmed by massive population growth,
worsening living conditions, inadequate provision of utilities and
infrastructures and general environmental degradation, there is
worry that cities have become unmanageable. In Nigerian cities,
governments have adopted many approaches to solid waste
management, but still face unprecedented challenges. People are
more optimistic, observing that with good management of these
wastes, cities can grow even larger without ruining their
surroundings and making residents worse-off.
1.2 STUDY PROBLEM
Achara Layout is fast losing its aesthetic beauty. There are no
designated dumpsites. To dispose refuse, residents have to go for
some distance to a disposal-point (where there is any). This is not
only inconvenient to residents but also costly, thus they dump the
waste any where found convenient within the neighbourhood;
mostly along the streets. In any event of rainfall, the residents of
Achara layout dump their refuse in the gutters of the streets.
These gutters are blocked with solid waste. After each event of
torrential rainfall, most of these wastes litter the roads causing
accidents and traffic hold ups. The stench from the putrescible
part of the wastes pervades the whole area. These call for
investigation into the solid waste management system applied in
Achara layout.
1.3 AIM OF THE STUDY
The ultimate aim of this study is to investigate the activities of
PSP engaged by ENSEPA in solid waste collection, transportation
and disposal in Achara Layout with a view of finding out why they
have not made any appreciable success with regard to managing
solid waste in the area; and to make a sound proposal for better
and more effective PSP operation of solid waste collection,
transportation and ultimate disposal in Achara layout area of
Enugu city. To achieve this aim, the following objectives are
formulated.
1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
i. To find out the percentage composition of solid waste
generated by the household in the study location.
ii. To find out the quality of slid waste generated by the
households in the study location.
iii. To investigate the regularity of PSP in solid waste collection
of the study location.
iv. To create awareness that effective solid waste management
of the study location can only be achieved through the
incorporation of both residents and the PSP concerned.
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The objectives of this study prompted the researcher to ask the
following research questions:
i. What is the composition of the solid waste generated?
ii. What is the total quantity of the solid waste generated per
household for a given period?
iii. Is there any relationship between the quantity of solid waste
generated and household size?
iv. Is there any significant difference in solid waste generated
between the ten (10) streets studied in the study location?
v. What mode of operation do the PSP use in collecting solid
waste at the study location?
vi. What is the operational period of the PSP in solid waste
collection at the study location using this mode of operation?
vii. How effective is it?
viii. Should PSP be involved in solid wastes management?
These research questions are addressed by formulating
these research hypotheses:
i. That there is a significant relationship between quantity of
solid waste generated and household size in the study
location.
ii. That there is no significant difference in the main solid waste
generated by households between the studied streets in the
study location.
iii. That the activities of PSP involved in the solid waste
collection, transportation and disposal are ineffective.
1.6 CONCEPTUAL FRAME WORK OF THE STUDY
The issue of solid waste management is a complex phenomenon.
It has been an intractable environmental problem for which wide
scale studies have provided no answers. For effective study of
solid waste management, it is necessary that the individual
components of the phenomenon be properly identified; in this
case they include solid waste generation, solid waste
transportation and solid waste disposal (Tchobanoglous, 1977).
These components are interrelated and they also have their
distinctive attributes. For instance in the case of solid waste, type
of solid waste generated e.g. commercial solid waste, residential
solid waste, and so on; the income level of those generating the
waste and so on. For a comprehensive study of solid waste
management, the system approach concept is applied. The
management of solid waste could be approached through viewing
the entire components of the solid waste equation as a system
that is interrelated or interdependent. In other words, waste
disposal is dependent on waste transported, while waste
transferred is dependent on the waste generated at generationpoints, which may be household wastes, commercial wastes and
so on.
Wang and Pereira (1980) suggested that the key in planning a
solid waste collection system is the ability to ask the right
questions. What to collect?, Who will collect it?, Where to collect
from?, What vehicles should be used to transport waste?, How
often should waste be transported from generation – points?,
dumpsites are needed and where should these be located?, What
routing, crew size and schedule should be employed?, how many
incinerators, landfills, or other types of disposal sites are needed
and where should they be located?. The question of what
geographic area to cover is usually determined on the basis of
existing political jurisdictions. Answers to these questions are
necessary for a holistic management of solid waste in the area.
Hence, output analysis is performed by examining or measuring
the solid waste generated in the Layout by actually separating and
weighing the components of solid waste samples collected. This
is likely to give a micro scale data, which properly depicts the
composition of the solid waste of the Layout so as to have better
planning of solid waste collection system for Achara Layout.
1.7 THE STUDY AREA
Enugu city is located at the North-Eastern fringes of South
Eastern Nigeria and occupies an area of about 12,000km2
. It has
previously served as capital city for the Eastern Region, East
Central State, the Former Anambra State and presently Enugu
State (Fig 1). The topography is undulating with folded hills dotting
around it (Iloeje, 1977) hence the acronym-“Enu Ugwu”, meaning
the top of a hill. It enjoys a tropical climate characterized by two
distinct seasons – rainy and dry.
The town owes its origin and early a coal mining. Between 1915
and 1920, the city developed as a by-product of coal mining
activities hence the nickname “Coal City”. The coal mining
activities led to the early development of Ogbete layout, Coal
Camp which is one of the oldest planned residential areas built for
miners. In 1923, China Town developed as a special industrial
area for Africa Railway Workers and the European Reservation
Area now called Government Reservation Area (GRA).
As Enugu grows in commerce and industry, attracted earlier by
coal mining activities so does it population with the attendant solid
waste problems. This population growth is evident from the
various populationCensus figures from 1952 to 1991 from 62, 764 to 465, 072
respectively (National Population Commission, 1994). With this
inevitable development, other residential areas started to emerge.
These are from Abakpa Nike towards Ugwuogo Nike at the North
East side, from New Haven towards Thinkers Corner to Emene at
the Eastern side, and from Uwani towards Achara Layout to Idaw
River and Gariki at the Southern side of the city. (Fig 2).
This pattern of growth in residential areas calls for an integrated
approach involving the handling, collected, transporting and
disposal of wastes in the city.
1.8 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This study focuses on the evaluation of solid waste
generated, composition and its management in Achara layout.
The scope of the study covers solid waste generated from
households. The amount of solid waste generated by individual
households was presented to the researcher for weighing. In the
course of the study, the residents were skeptical; and the
ENSEPA and PSP personnel interviewed were scared of being
indicted. About 20% of these respondents were initially
uncooperative though their fears was allayed after convincing
them on
the importance of the study. Finally, a major handicap that cannot
in any way be ignored is time and money constraint.
1.9 THE PLAN OF THE STUDY
This study is divided into five chapters, chapter one deals with the
introduction, background of the problem, study problem, aim of
the study, objective of the study, research questions, research
hypothesis, conceptual frame work of the study, the study area,
scope and limitations of the study, overview of the study; chapter
two is the review of related literature-solid waste management in
developed economies and solid waste management in developing
economies; chapter three is Reaersch methodology – the data
need, sources of data, method of data collection, method of data
analysis, and problems of data collection and analysis; chapter
four is data presentation and analysis, and discussion; chapter
five is summary, conclusion and recommendations.