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This paper discusses a key dimension of Wastenomics that of addressing the sustainable waste
management practices and education.
INTRODUCTION
This paper reviews the waste management practises and WASTE MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVE-
the issue of sustainable development in Nigeria. It was LOPMENT
discovered that mainly, private sector participation, high-
way managers, local government and Lagos State Waste The end of the 1980s saw a radical reappraisal of our
Management Authority are responsible for the collection concerns over resource availability and use, the environ-
and disposal of all types of waste generated in Lagos mental consequences of resource exploitation and the
State. While in term of solid waste, only six (including relationship between the environment, poverty and eco-
existing and new) dumpsites (erroneously refer to as nomic change.
landfills) exist in Lagos State, while all the closed dump- This re-appraisal has given rise to a new approach to
sites are still being used illegally among several other environment and development issues - an approach whi-
illegal dumpsites that adorn the landscape. ch seeks to reconcile human needs and the capacity of
It was also discovered that most of the industries if not the environment to cope with the consequences of eco-
all in Isolo Industrial Environment of Lagos State, for nomic system. This approach is called sustainable deve-
example has no pollution abatement programme for their lopment.
effluent, during the course of study, it was also disco- Sustainable development is an implied development
vered that Lagos Lagoon alone is estimated to absorb without destruction, it is the judicious use of non-renew-
3
10,000 M of industrial effluent daily. able resources for the present and future generations,
It was also found that, waste disposal habit of the which are non-renewable resources, must be used at a
people, corruption, work attitude, inadequate plants and judicious rate, neither too fast nor too slow and to ensure
equipment among others are militating against effective that the natural wealth that they represent is converted
waste management to attain sustainable development in into long-term wealth as they are used.
Nigeria as a whole. Data generated by the study shows In Nigeria we succinctly put it as sustainable develop-
that the method adopted by these agencies was found to ment without jeopardizing future development, meaning
be ineffective and fall short of international standards in that in our efforts to explore and exploit the natural reso-
waste management practises and sustainable develop- urces to serve us, there is an obvious paradox evident in
ment. the need to ensure economic development, while protect-
The finding of this review will be useful to researchers, ting the environment.
government stakeholders and professionals working in It is important to note that there must be a balance
the area of waste to energy, recycling, material recovery between levels of development and the stock of natural
and climate change. resources, that is, development must be at a level that
Int. NGO. J. 174
can be sustained without prejudice to the natural environ- unwanted notwithstanding that it has some value.
ment or to future generations.
Therefore if there is to be sustainable development in
waste management in Nigeria, the availability of land (for THE ISSUES OF WASTE COLLECTION AND DISPO-
landfill), human resources, plant and equipment and SAL
other tools including capital must be readily available. We Domestic waste management, collection and disposal have
need to protect future for the next generation by cleaning always been a universal problem. According to studies, it
up our environment of all types of waste, taking into con- was noted that for years, the major problem in Israel (espe-
sideration both physical and population development of cially in Ramat Hovar) was the accumulation of tens of thou-
the state. sands of tons of organic wastes. Also in the U.S until the
As such waste management must mean the collection, 1970's Federal Agencies had little authority to regulate
keeping, treatment and disposal of wastes in such a way hazardous and solid disposal often took in an unsafe man-
as to render it harmless to human and animal life, the ner at landfills or in inclined lagoons, with some wastes sim-
ecology and the environment generally. ply dumped on the ground or in surface waters.
Refuse and domestic waste will not constitute a strange
sight to Lagosians whose streets are littered with tons of
Waste garbage from animal to human carcasses. At present, pri-
vate sector waste disposal operators diligently visit homes
The federal environmental protection act (1988) does not and carry away refuse bags, load them into waiting trucks
define waste, however Waste as the term implies is any and cart them away for final disposal. "That is good the
solid, liquid or gaseous substances or materials which residents say. They however worry that a lot of littering goes,
being a scrap or being super flows, refuse or reject, is on in the environment and the streets and avenues may
disposed off or required to be disposed as unwanted, this have been ignored and not cleared.
is Environmental law, the term assumes its ordinary lit- Studies have revealed that household account for about
eral meaning unlike in the real property Law, When half of the solid wastes generated, that is, by weight in the
waste is used as a term of art, having meaning com- third world cities, which includes Lagos. It has also been
pletely different from its ordinary meaning. noted that domestic waste disposal management has recei-
One of the few statues in Nigeria, which attempts to ved considerable attention not only in Lagos State but Nig-
define waste is the Lagos State Environmental Edicts eria generally. Despite this laudable attention, collection, dis-
1985, there in Section 32, waste is define as follows: posal processing, treatment, recycling and utilization have
defied solution. For instance in Lagos State, the estimated
Waste includes: daily generation is about 764 tons in all the 20 local govern-
ment area including the 37 development areas.
i.) Waste of all description. The major problem caused by wastes to the environment
ii.) Any substance, which constitutes scrap materials or is pollution characterized by various types of solid wastes
an effluent or other unwanted surplus substances arising which include paper, textile plastic, metals, glass, bone,
from the application of any process. wood, vegetal matter and food remnant of multiple consis-
tency.
The United Kingdoms Environmental Protection Act It has been pointed out that the generation of waste
1990, re-enacting an earlier U.K statue, took this statu- materials is a problem that is not peculiar to Lagos alone.
tory definition a step further in section 75(2), it defines This problem is prevalent the world over as noted earlier.
waste in these terms: This problem is not peculiar to the third world alone but cuts
across the industrialized countries of the world where the
Waste includes: pollutant effect of domestic and industrial wastes have cau-
sed considerable concern to environmental scientists. Our
i.) Any substance which' constitutes a scrap material or problems emanate from solid waste essentially. There are
an effluent or other unwanted surplus substance arising wastes from discarded materials generated from domestic
from the application of any process and and community activities or from industrial, commercial and
ii.) Any substance or article, which requires to be dis- agricultural operations.
posed of as being broken, worn out, contaminated or
otherwise spoiled. Major classes of solid wastes
One thing to notice is that none of the above definitions of Municipal solid wastes generally can be classified in
waste give "value" to the elements considered. There is terms of three major sources of generators: residential,
no suggestion that the items, which constitute a waste, commercial, and industrial. Sometimes, institutional sour-
do not have value or is intrinsically useless. The word ces are separated from commercial sources and, thus a
"unwanted" which appears in the definition although it fourth source is referred to as institutional. In the traditional
introduces its own problem, does not necessarily, import scheme of classification, residential (domestic) solid waste
a value element for a substance or material that may be consists of household garbage and rubbish, or refuse. The
Adewole. 175
The garbage fraction is mostly in the form of wastes derived public or where a man or woman parks his or her car and
from the preparation and consumption of food (e.g., meat throw waste on the street, then one begins to wonder the
and vegetable scraps). An alternate term commonly used to reasons for these dirty habits of our people.
describe the garbage faction is putrescibles. In the tradi- Nigerians are permanently accustomed to dirt. Evi-
tional scheme, all wastes not classified as garbage are dence of this can be seen everyday by way of indiscri-
classified as rubbish. The major constituents of rubbish minate discharge of garbage into drains and at times on
include glass, metal and plastic wastes, yard and garden the highways
debris, wastepaper and paper waste; In a survey carried out by Lagos Waste Management
It is against this backdrop that this chapter intends to Authority (LAWMA), which is rested with the responsibility of
review the impediments to effective and efficient waste providing facilities for refuse collection, in all the streets
management for sustainable development in Lagos State. within the state does not have adequate refuse collection
bins in most of the streets in Lagos State. Hence the indis-
The major effects of waste management on the criminate dumps of waste on the streets. Also, the frequency
quality of life of carting away the refuse was not regular where the public
refuse bins are found.
Environmental effects: The major environmental effects In another survey carried out, it was succinctly put that the
include air pollution, which includes odour, smoke, noise, volume of municipal waste piled up (for disposal) will be
dust, etc. Waste pollution pollution from disposal site influenced by nearness to disposal sites, accessibility trans-
via flooding because of blocked drains and land degra- portation facilities street layout, composition of wastes me-
thods and individual attitude. Our individual attitude to waste
dation.
disposal in Lagos state leaves more to be desired.
A situation whereby a landfill that has been closed to the
Health effects: This includes: flies which carry germs on public is still being used as a dumpsite calls for questioning.
their bodies and legs and also excrete them; mosquitoes Also where waste is placed on the road median, gutter side,
breed in stagnant water in blocked drains in favourable inside gutter and roadside does not augur well for effective
location in cans, tyres etc. that collects rain water; Rats: waste management.
rats spreads typlius, salmonella, leptospirosis and other Despite the facts that illegal communal waste dumps
diseases they cause injuries by biting and spoil millions of indiscriminately located in public places have been officially
tons of food. The refuse workers also faces some haz- cancelled yet several illegal refuse collection points, were
ards which includes: parasite infection and infected cuts indiscriminately created by residents which pose health
resulting from skin contact with refuse, other includes hazard and loss of environment aesthetics.
hazards on disposal sites; are injuries from glass, razor
blades, syringes, tissue damage or infection through
respiration, ingestion or skin contact. Attitude to work
iv.) Lack of adequate equipment and plant and other tools enhance and improve the habit of dumping waste "any-
necessary. where and everywhere". Research and development into
v.) Corruption. areas of better waste handling method may also go a
vi.) Overlap of function enforcement agents. long way to assist in elaborating and interjecting the
situation.
The entire above highlighted problem cannot allow for Nigeria has very little or nothing to showcase for as her
effective management and sustainable development. achievements in the area of proper waste management.
Therefore it is against the background that there is an Heaps of garbage is also commonplace along major
urgent need to address the effective waste management roads, riverbanks, and ravines and in excavated areas,
system to be adopted for a sustainable development. particularly places excavated to obtain sand for road
construction.
MITIGATING MEASURES In States where there is organized refuse collection,
such as Lagos; the disposal of such wastes is usually an
Expanding recycling programmes can help reduce solid open dumpsites, located not far from living areas. Such
waste pollution but the key to solving severe solid waste dumpsites (called landfills) are not provided with environ-
problems lies in reducing the amount of waste generated. mental safeguards, and the leachates from them per-
It was noticed that only the landfill system of waste dis- colate freely into streams and the groundwater system
posal is being generally adopted in Lagos State. Where-
as in other places for example, there are several methods
of waste disposal used to ameliorate and mitigate the Industrial effluents
issue of population effect on waste management. Such
systems that can or may be adopted are: With the exception of a few places, Nigeria cannot pride
herself over having a functional sewage system. Indus-
i.) Recycling trial effluents of all types (both toxic and non-toxic) are
ii.) Bio treatment discharged freely; into, surface and groundwater sources.
iii.) Incinerations Waste is allowed to pile, up before it is ordered to be
iv.) Neutralization cleared with military dispatch and automatic alacrity. This
v.) Secure sanitary landfill leaves room for corruption and does not allow for effec-
vi.) Composting tive waste management.
In developed countries, industries are compulsorily
Also international cooperation should be sought to learn made to discharge all it effluents into only license on-land
how other countries have effectively managed their waste disposal sites, where such effluents are treated prior to
collection; handling and disposal. The state government re-use, recycling or discharge into streams or other
should seize the opportunity to apply for assistance in an approved places.
effort to mitigate the looming disaster posed by popu- There are no such controls in Nigeria and where they
lation explosion in the state in terms of waste generation exist they are not enforced and most industries discharge
and disposal raw, untreated and highly toxic liquid effluents into open
Remediation through education is also necessary. gutters, drains, streams, lakes, estuaries and lagoons.
People should be educated on the need to reduce the For example the effluent from the Aswani Textile Manu-
amount of waste generated. The Lagos government facturing Factory and other industries around the area of
should fund LAWMA to provide adequate collection bins Isolo are of Lagos State are only discharged on the major
in most areas of the metropolis and hinterland to forestall road leading through the area.
the wrong habit of throwing waste anywhere and every- This contributes to the continuous wearing of that sec-
where, creating illegal dumps and doting and adorning tion of the road year, round. Rendering the road some-
the major streets of the state with wastes. time impassable especially on the path of the effluent
A sustainable development strategy action plan using a despite this, market women and men troop to this place
consensus-building approach should be formulated every Tuesday of the week to buy and sell not mindful of
between government and other stakeholders. These sho- the great danger locking around.
uld include national government the private sector, aca- To most Nigerians wastes is simply a nuisance, full
demics, environmental planners and experts, and non- stop. They hardly give serious thought to tile polluting
governmental organizations to produce, an action plan effects of wastes or their deleterious effects on human
document that may last 20 years. This document shall be health. Increase in urban population and 'blind', haph-
published and made available for public consumption and azard industrialization has contributed a great deal to the
fully implemented by all concerned. generation of wastes in Nigeria. In the municipal areas o f
As earlier mentioned, the waste disposal habit of the Lagos State, more solid wastes are produced than the
people may change if government stopped paying lip generators can effectively cope with or manage. The
service to the serious issue of waste management. The situation of unmanageable wastes in the cities appears to
availability and nearness of disposal sites will greatly worsen with perceived increase in the income of the
Int. NGO. J. 178
inhabitants. The slums and the shanty neighbourhoods, short-term, or immediate, goal should be to meet the
as expected, receive little or no waste disposal services. conditions to the extent possible under existing circum-
stances. The long-term goal should be to eventually meet
all three of the conditions. This approach is recomm-
URGENT SOLUTION FOR WASTE DISPOSAL SITES ended since the benefits associated with a modern sa-
We concentrate on two types of waste disposal sites: nitary landfill are realized only to the extent that a land
Landfills and Open dumps. A landfill is differentiated from disposal facility fully meets the three basic conditions.
an open dump in that the landfill is an engineered design, The most important condition is the prevention of nega-
consisting of a variety of systems for controlling the im- tive impacts on the public health and the environment.
pact of land disposal on human health and safety and on In conclusion, knowledge of the quantities and charac-
the environment. An Open dump is an uncontrolled sys- teristics of the wastes to be landfilled is fundamental to
tem and has not been the subject of engineering design. the proper design and operation of a landfill. Among other
This is the type of waste disposal been adopted in Lagos things, these parameters influence or control many as-
State in generally but commonly refers to as landfill. pects of the landfill system over its lifetime, including the
For the purposes, a waste disposal site is generally annual rate of filling, the required volumetric capacity of
defined to consist of that portion of the site wherein the fill, production and characteristic of gas and lea-
wastes are buried, as well as any surrounding property chates, and environmental impacts.
within the boundary of the site, the surrounding property The role of scavengers: The role of scavengers is very
may serve as a buffer, support landfill-related operation important in the planning, implementation, and operation
and facilities (e.g., maintenance) or unrelated activities of land disposal sites in Lagos State. First, the occu-
(e.g., recycling depots), or contain access routes and rrence of scavenging between the point of waste gene-
roadways. ration and the disposal location influences the quantities
of waste that will be disposed, therefore this aspect of
REQUIREMENT FOR SETTING UP OF LANDFILL IN scavenging must be taken into account during the
LAGOS STATE process of estimating waste quantities and characteristics
in Lagos State.
Acceptable definitions of a modern landfill are based on Secondly, scavenging is a widespread occurrence at
the concept of isolating the landfilled wastes from the existing land disposal in Lagos State though this is oppo-
environment until the wastes are stabilized and rendered sed in most developed countries and is to be expected at
innocuous as much as possible through the biological, new disposal sites unless policies and/or programs are
chemical, and physical process of nature. The main diff- implemented to prevent the practice.
erences among definitions of a landfill involve the degree Scavenger are normally part of the socio-economic
of isolation and the means of accomplishing it. Isolation structure, their displacement from a disposal site can
includes prevention of water from entering the landfill, as have many direct and indirect consequences. While
well as isolation of discharges directly from the fill to the unsupervised and uncontrolled scavenging is detrimental
environment. to the health and safety of the scavenger, as well as per-
sonnel operating the facility, the exclusion of scavengers
Three basic types of practices and requirements for a from disposal sites is not necessary if their activities are
landfill: managed and controlled.
Scavengers help in the recovering of valuable reso-
i.) Consolidation of wastes into the working face; urces that would otherwise be disposed as waste, the
compaction of waste to conserve land resources; design reduction of problematic materials entering a landfill and
and operation of the fill to control settlement, to optimize the subsequent adverse effect that they have upon
the chemical and biological processes (e.g., for landfill landfill operation and performance, for instance whole
gas recovering), or both; tyres, toxic materials etc. and the reduction of the
ii.) Covering the waste with cover material on daily basis quantities of materials destined for land disposal in order
to control the risk of hazards from exposed wastes. to conserve resources, e.g., land, and water and air
iii.) Control or prevention of adverse environmental quality.
impacts wastes disposed on land to soil, water, and air
resources and of their subsequent impact on public Reason why Lagos State adopts open dumps: In the
health and safety. case of developed nations, the degree of isolation
considered necessary to protect the environment and
A landfill must meet the above three key conditions re- human health and safety usually is much more than
gardless of stage of economic development of the cou- would be technically and financially practical in many
ntry in which the landfill is located. However, meeting the developing countries including Lagos State. In the case
three conditions may be technologically and economically of many developed countries, the high level of contain-
difficult or impractical in Lagos State. Therefore, the ment requires a complex and expensive engineered sys-
Adewole. 179
tem. Therefore the main reason why open dumps is vi.) The support of private sector and NGOs is also
adopted in Lagos State is due to the technical, financial, required most especially in the area of organising main-
complex and expensive engineering system involved in tenance workshops and enlightened programme, which
setting up a sanitary landfill. should include grassroots participation and input.
vii.) The Federal and State Government should properly
fund the various agencies responsible for effective and
URGENT TIPS TO ATTAIN BEST PRACTICES safe waste management and make it the pivot of the
i.) In term of population, there is an urgent need for action agency in the various states to be responsible for collec-
plans and education in order to monitor and control waste tion and disposal of all types of wastes.
expected in the state. There should also be a room for viii.) There is a need for at least one domestic waste
international co-operation towards achieving the action incineration plants in each local government council con-
plans. structed with a daily waste treatment capacity of at least
ii.) Expanding recycling programmes through the 3000 tons, which can generate electricity through
activities of scavengers among others (Waste-to-wealth). incineration so as to recover the energy out of the waste.
iii.) Land fills management and control; Waste-to-energy ix.) There is need for more effective and up to date
programs can be generated through the land fills domestic waste transfer stations.
(Generation of Methane Gas).
iv.) There is need for purchase of updated equipment;
there is an urgent need for well trained staff, vehicles,
trucks, tipper, pay loaders, bulldozer and road sweeper,
which must be backed up with well stocked maintenance
store provided for spare parts for all equipment.
v.) There is a need for an organised refuse collection
both from residential and industrial estates. There must
be a disposal site in each street and avenue nearest to
the sources of waste, which must be accessible by
everyone and the collection should be daily and regularly.