- Introduction
Solid waste management problem appears to be the most prominent in urban cities and large towns across the world due to the huge quantity of solid waste generated from domestic and commercial activities. In most cities and large towns of the world, solid waste is not only heaped in huge quantities on refuse dumps but also thrown and made to lie around in piles in the street and in small illegal dump on any piece of unused land. Most third world countries have worst cases than industrialised countries which have the money, technical knowhow and public attitudes to control and manage their waste to some degree. This chapter presents a practical approach to the assessment of the Status of Solid waste management with application in Nigeria. The objectives of the chapter are discussed as follows:
1.1. Solid waste characterisation
Waste characterization is a waste stream analysis which involves a logical and systematic approach to obtaining and analyzing data on one or more waste streams or sub-streams. Waste characterization provides an estimate of solid waste quantity and composition. Two commonly use method of waste characterization are – material flow approach and site-specific study. However there is currently no agreed international standard for waste stream analysis or waste characterisation although many countries have national procedures for analyzing their waste. Waste characterization has been developed and discussed in this chapter.
1.2. Assessment of the solid waste chain
Waste management in all ramifications, is simply a planned system aimed at effectively controlling the production, storage, collection, transportation, processing and disposal of waste. Waste management is an important element of environmental protection. Its purpose is to provide hygienic, efficient and economic solid waste storage, collection, transportation and treatment or disposal of waste without polluting the atmosphere, soil or water system. The various steps involved in the management of solid waste from generation to the point of sanitary disposal are referred to as solid waste chain. It therefore means that the solid waste chain is the path trace by solid waste from generation to the final disposal point. The solid waste chain has been extensively discussed in this work
1.3. Assessment of the status of source segregation
The process of recovery is the main task in the Solid waste Management Mix that is sustainable. Waste sorting is a major part of sustainable solid waste management process because if the wastes are sorted correctly, about 30 – 50% of the work is done. The solid waste source sorting process has also been presented in this work.
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