Chapter Two Literature Review 2.1

CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 DEFINITION
Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or
disposal of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced
by human activity, and is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on
health, the environment or aesthetics. Waste management is also carried out
to recover resources from it. Waste management can involve solid, liquid,
gaseous or radioactive substances, with different methods and fields of
expertise for each. (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
Waste management practices differ for developed and developing nations,

for urban and rural areas, and for residential and industrial producers.
Management for non-hazardous residential and institutional waste in
metropolitan areas is usually the responsibility of local government
authorities, while management for non-hazardous commercial and industrial
waste is usually the responsibility of the generator.
Waste management has to do with supervising of waste from their source of

generation through storage, collection, transportation and disposal. The type
of waste considered here is domestic garbage, trash consisting of degradable
food wastes, leaves, dead animal etc. and non-degradable such as nylon,
plastics, bottles etc. generated in households and commercial area.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defined waste as useless, unwanted

or discarded materials that arise from man’s activities and not flowing. It is
important to observe a mixture of potentially infectious and non-infectious
waste overflowing in the environment to prevent the wide spread of
communicable diseases.
2.2 SOLID WASTE GENERATION
There is need for the development of consistent, continuous, reliable and
accurate information or data on the rate of solid waste generated at
Household Ward and Local Government Level.
Agricultural Waste: A poultry farm produces a lot of waste, for

instance my neighbour has a poultry cage with about 25 fowls the waste it
generate the way it smells is constituting a nuisance to other tenant that
reside in that house.
Commercial Waste: Commercial sources contribute its own quota to

refuse generation. This occurs typically in the market where a lot of dispose
materials are found for example Mile 12 market, Idioro Mushin market etc. a
huge amount of waste is seen at the end of each commercial activities.
Educational Waste: At all levels of education system, different types

of waste are produced. Lagos State Polytechnic generates a large chunk of
waste daily from the offices, food sellers, and the students.
Industrial Waste: Industries in Nigeria produce a large amount of

waste. This is mostly applicable to the manufacturing industries and
manufacturing industries.
Institutional Waste: Institutions here includes offices, banks,

hospitals, schools etc. Different types of waste are produced from paper,
cartons glasses, hospitals uses etc.
As urbanization and modern living rises, the rate at which waste are
generated also increase. This because waste generation is a function of
population growth thereby constituting greater burden. (Owunna, 2006:8)
2.3 WASTE MANAGEMENT METHODS
According to Wikipedia (2008) Waste management disposal methods vary
widely between areas for many reasons, including type of waste material,
nearby land uses, and the area available.
2.3.1 Landfill
Disposing of waste in a landfill involves burying waste to dispose of it, and
this remains a common practice in most countries. Landfills were often
established in disused quarries, mining voids or borrow pits. A properly
designed and well-managed landfill can be a hygienic and relatively
inexpensive method of disposing of waste materials. Older, poorly designed
or poorly managed landfills can create a number of adverse environmental
impacts such as wind blown litter and attraction of vermin. Another common
by-product of landfill is gas (mostly composed of methane and carbon
dioxide), which is produced as organic waste breaks down. This gas can
create odour problems, kill surface vegetation and is a green house gas.
Design characteristics of a modern landfill include methods to contain

leachate such as clay or plastic lining material. Deposited waste is normally
compacted to increase its density and stability, and covered to prevent
attracting vermin (such as mice or rats). Many landfills also have landfill gas
extraction systems installed to extract the landfill gas. Gas is pumped out of
the landfill using perforated pipes and flared off or burnt in a gas engine to
generate electricity.
2.3.2 Incineration
Incineration is a disposal method that involves combustion of waste material
incineration and other high temperature waste treatment systems are
sometimes described as “thermal treatment”. Incinerators convert waste
materials into heat, gas, steam and ash.
Incineration is carried out both on a small scale by individuals, and on a

large scale by industry. It is used to dispose of solid, liquid and gaseous
waste. It is recognised as a practical method of disposing of certain
hazardous waste materials (such as biological medical waste). Incineration is
a controversial method of waste disposal, due to issues such as emission of
gaseous pollutants.
Incineration is common in countries such as Japan where land is more

scares, as these facilities generally do not require as much area as landfills.
Waste-to-Energy (WtE) or Energy-to-Waste (EfW) are broad terms for
facilities that burn waste in a furnace or boiler to generate heat, steam and/or
electricity. Combustion in an incinerator is not always perfect and there have
been concerns about micro-pollutants in gaseous emissions from incinerator
stacks. Particular concern has focussed on some very persistent organics
such as Dioxins which may be created within the incinerator and which may
have serious environmental consequences in the area immediately around
the incinerator.
In Nigeria the method of waste disposal used is the open dumping of refuse
on land, instead of sanitary landfill method. Sanitary landfill is an
engineering method in which waste are disposed on land by spreading them
in layers, compacting them daily with a layer of earth. An open dumpsite is a
place where waste are disposed of, or dumped on land with little regard for
public health and landscape aesthetics. Waste in open dumpsite is a source
of air and water pollution, land contamination health hazards and
environment degradation.
Effect
 Reduces property value for land near dumps sites
 Air pollution occurs when solid waste at open dump sites or
residential premises spontaneously catch fire
 Creation of conducive environment for breeding of disease carrying
vectors like flies, mosquitoes etc. to spread disease such as yellow fever,
malaria fever, diarrhoea etc.
 Street littering resulting from peoples bad habit of throwing wastes
carelessly from moving vehicle and while walking on street or by
hawkers
Sarah Gayton (2004) talks about the challenge and the need for
improvement in waste management in low – to middle income countries. It
is common to observe a mixture of potentially infectious and non-infectious
waste from containers lying around hospital ground with animals, pests and
insects feed from it.
Any previous waste collection services are likely to have ceased or are
operating on a very restricted schedule. Waste management equipment could
have been destroyed or stolen, and the speed of replacement is normally
slow. Such disruption exaggerates the problems that we face. She sited cases
some health institutions face, they include:
 Very limited or no waste collection and disposal service

 No treatment facilities for infectious healthcare waste
 No colour-coded waste management consumable items such as
plastic bags or sharps boxes and very few skips
 No waste segregation – placentas, needles and food waste were all
mixed together
 Dogs, goats and horses were seen feeding on healthcare wastes on
hospital grounds
 Lack of awareness of the risks of potentially infectious wastes on the
part of all stakeholders
 No regular electricity or water supply
 Difficult procurement procedures
 Lack of money for transport of any type of wastes
The situation was unacceptable and posed significant risks to patients due to
the risk of infectious acquired within the hospital and to public health.
2.4 IMPLEMENTATION
Tom Parker (2006) suggests that, given the various issues facing individual
communities, below listed are ways in which waste management can be
managed.
Professionalism and Public Relations
As an industry, we need to improve our image and do a better job of
‘selling’ all the innovative programmes we operate that protect the natural
environment. We need to develop a state-of-the-art landfill, Waste-to-
Energy (WTF) facilities, collection systems and processing facilities. We
need to further expand our public relations programmes to inform the
general public of the important roles we serve in protecting the environment.
Attracting Younger Staff of the Profession

We need to do a better job of attracting, training and retaining younger staff
to our industry. We need to attract younger professionals to our industry by
forming partnerships with colleges and universities, expanding co-operative
and summer intern education programmes and encouraging younger staff to
get involved in professional waste organisations. We need to engage the
younger waste professional by getting them involved in the development and
implementation of innovative solutions to address complicated technical
challenges.
Flow control
Flow control in an issues based on the premise that waste is an article of
commerce and that government should not place any barriers on the free
movement waste across region, state or national boundaries. To exemplify
the importance of this issue the case of United Haulers Association vs.
Oneida-Herkimer Waste Management Authority, No 05-1345.
Planning
Many communities should update their waste management programmes. In
recent years, new issues and management techniques have surfaced that
directly impact integrated waste management system components including
rising energy prices, sustainability, new sorting technologies, advanced air
pollution control systems for incineration and WTE facilities, and more
efficient collection systems and vehicles.

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CHAPTER TWO

Waste management practices differ for developed and developing nations,

Waste management has to do with supervising of waste from their source of

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defined waste as useless, unwanted

Agricultural Waste: A poultry farm produces a lot of waste, for

Commercial Waste: Commercial sources contribute its own quota to

Educational Waste: At all levels of education system, different types

Industrial Waste: Industries in Nigeria produce a large amount of

Institutional Waste: Institutions here includes offices, banks,

Design characteristics of a modern landfill include methods to contain

Incineration is carried out both on a small scale by individuals, and on a

Incineration is common in countries such as Japan where land is more

 Very limited or no waste collection and disposal service

Attracting Younger Staff of the Profession

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