AN ANALYSIS OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF LAND FILL EMISSIONS. (A CASE STUDY OF THE ABA ROAD LANDFILL IN OWERRI, IMO STATE, NIGERIA)
ABSTRACT
In recent years, there has been a tremendous increase in solid waste generation, resulting to the heaps of refuse along major streets and roads in most cities of Nigeria, and other developing countries which has been converted into landfills. The need to control this ugly situation and make our environment pristine, healthy and supportive prompted this work. The study involved gathering of field information to reveal the major types and sources of solid wastes that makes up landfills, their modes of management and the environmental and health implications. The instrument used was a questionnaire which was administered to 836 respondents. The findings showed the major components of solid waste generated to be biodegradable (62%) with the major source being markets (44%), while the predominant management method was open dumping system (46%). Majority of the respondents (88.4%) indicated awareness of the adverse health and environmental impacts of improper solid waste management.
CHAPTER ONE
BACKGROUND TO STUDY
The urban communities of underdeveloped nations are developing at extremely fast rates contrasted with those in the developed countries (UN-Habitat, 2010). Such high rate of development of urban areas has suggestions for the arrangement of urban infrastructural administrations to keep the expansion of urban slum. The expanding development of urban communities, along these lines, has suggestions for city waste management among other social administrations required in the urban communities (Ogunrinola and Adepegba, 2012). Waste management is the accumulation, transport, preparing, reusing or transfer of waste materials; and can be viewed as a standout amongst the most difficult territories of current natural management (Egun, 2009).
Regardless of the serious endeavors in alternate techniques for transfer, and utilization of strategies on waste diminishment and reuse, landfills still stay as the fundamental piece of the strong waste management designs in dominant part of the World (Ozeair and Mohsen, 2010).Landfills ought not be seen as being in rivalry with other waste management innovations. Or maybe it supplements elective waste management innovations, as all elective waste treatment frameworks bargain just with some part of the waste stream, and in themselves offer ascent to deposits that require transfer at last by means of landfill. Much of the time, a landfill is the main alternative accessible to the Local Government Area waste management units and Private Sector Participants (PSPs) after the accumulation of metropolitan strong waste.
