Negative impacts of waste on human health and environment in Nigeria’s urban areas: innovative solutions to the rescue

Abstract

Introduction The problems of waste collection, disposal and environmental sanitation in Nigerian urban areas have occupied the attention of the federal, state and local government authorities for many years. Public concern on these issues continues to be expressed daily through the media, such as the newspapers, radio and television. Furthermore, the attention of national policy-makers is regularly called to health hazards and potential damage to natural resources (such as the air we breathe, the water we drink), from improper collection and disposal of waste. Waste generation is an inevitable product of living. Wastes are produced from individual and family as well as from municipal, industrial, institutional anddevelopmental activities. Technological advancement continues to lead tomassive generation ofwastes of all kinds. Sanitation (an aspect of waste management) is important to the extent of constituting part of Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals. In Nigeria, an average citizen used to produce about 0.41 kg solid waste per head per day (Oluwande, 1974). In a later studybySangodoyin andOsaigbovo (1992) an increased value of 1.66 kg solidwaste per head per daywas recorded.Many states and local governments devote meagre resources, both financial and human, to the possible solution of this intractable nationwide problem. Some states have establishedmunicipal authorities to handle urban solid waste problems, thereby seizing the constitutional responsibility of local government, which is, by law, charged with collecting and disposing solid waste in Nigeria. Despite concerted effort exerted over the decades on solving the problem of waste in Nigeria’s urban areas, the conclusion that one will easily reach is that, no substantial improvement is evident as far as waste management in the country is concerned. This is because mountains of waste sometimes compete with human beings for space in some Nigerian cities and indeed their effects on the environment and health are obvious (Mokuolu et al., 2016a). Various kinds of waste have been implicated in environmental degradation and danger to human health (Mokuolu et al., 2016b). These include waste streams frommassive congregations, leper colonies, hospitals, landfills, industrial and agricultural activities. The negative impacts also vary, fromminor to major and indeed to lethal. This article brings to the fore, the negative impacts of waste on human health and environment in Nigeria, and provides examples of innovation to address the menace.