ABSTRACT
Wastes have major impact on the environmental quality both nationally and globally. The waste produced could be hazardous in nature. The aim of this research is to assess the air pollution in Jega Metropolis, Nigeria, and the health implication it comes with. The study employed questionnaire administration and in-depth interview instruments. The effect of air pollution practice was majorly lung damage (39.6%), water pollution (23.1%) and air pollution (16.3%) which was as a result of dumping solid industrial waste indiscriminately. And that community sensitization (54.9%) is what the industries use to report the effect of their waste to the community as a way of reporting waste to the community. Due to the effects of the waste a high proportion of respondents (46.2%) migrated out of the community because of the health implication the waste has on them. Based on the findings, it is recommended, that a technically based personnel should be used to handle industrial hazardous wastes. Industries need to receive authorization from Kebbi State Protection Agency before disposing any hazardous waste and setting up of recycling plant within the industries to enhance recycling.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Waste cannot be separated from human activities regardless of their socio economic and cultural development. United Nations Department of Statistics (2005) considers waste to be materials that are not prime products for which the generator has no further use for production, transformation or consumption, and wants to dispose. Waste may be generated during the extraction of raw materials, the processing of raw materials into intermediate and final products, the consumption of final products, and other human activities. Residual materials recycled or reused at the place of generation are often excluded. Waste is defined as any material unused and regarded as worthless or unwanted (James, 2010). Waste is generated at the level of household, industrial and agricultural activities and is directly linked to human development, both technologically and socially (Bandara, 2007). The compositions of different wastes have varied over time and location, with industrial development and innovation being directly linked to increase in volume and diversity of waste materials (Baud, 2004).
air pollution is the collection, transportation, processing, treatment, recycling or disposal of waste materials to reduce their adverse effects on human health or amenities. The management of waste therefore, should focus on how to find the value and redirect it back to the community. Unfortunately, the unorganized process of collection and dumping results in complex mixture, the reby making separation and the entire air pollution process very expensive (Sharama, 2005). All human activities generate waste, though industrial waste have some peculiarities particularly for areas with industrial activities.
Despite the increasingly urgent calls for sustainable development, environmental issues have continued to emerge as major aspects of discussion in the problems of economic growth and development. Such issues were reported to center on global warming; noise, atmospheric, soil and water pollutions, declining of forest resources and Industrial wastes management (Dutta and Boise, 2008).
Industrial waste is said to be any material which comes from manufacturing processes and industrial sources which can be in form of solid, liquid and gases (Theisen and Vigil, 1993). It can broadly be defined as any liquid, gaseous, or solid substance, not sewage, resulting from any manufacturing or industry production process (Tchobanoglous et al.,1993). The waste produced is no longer useful for further industrial production and manufacturing process. Industrial waste could be hazardous and non-hazardous. The hazardous industrial waste affects the environment and human health and the non- hazardous poses nuisance to the environment (Gourlay, 1992 cited in Freduah, 2004). In fact, when the governments of African countries were required by the World Health Organization (WHO) to prioritize their environmental health concerns, the results revealed that waste was identified as the second most important problem after water quality (Senkoro, 2003).
Air pollution is the method employed in the control of generation, storage, collection, transfer and transport, processing and disposal of Industrial wastes in a manner that is in accord with the best principles of public health, economics, residenting, conservation, aesthetics and other environmental considerations and that is also responsive to public attitudes (Tchobanoglous, Theisen, and Vigil, 1993). According to the authors, in order to accomplish an efficient air pollution, the fundamental aspects and relationships involved must be identified and understood clearly. In the light of this, Industrial waste management is an important environmental health service, and an integral part of basic Industrial services. Matete and Trois (2008) posit that the implications of poor air pollution strategies is damaging to people’s health and the environment. Despite the fact that developing countries spend about 20 to 40 percent of their revenues on air pollution and other waste form, but they are unable to keep pace with the scope of the problem (Zerbock, 2003).
Air pollution is an integrated part of air pollution, with an emphasis on maximizing resource use efficiency. In the pursuit of sustainable Air pollution, the prevention of waste generation is the first priority, followed by waste recovery and safe disposal of waste on the hierarchy of principles for Air pollution. These principles need to be put in practice through joint waste prevention and management measures if growing environmental degradation is to be avoided (La Grega et al. 2001)
Next is recovery, which is another method of disposal and it involves passing the waste through a chamber at high temperature with an adequate supply of oxygen to oxidize all organic material. Its advantage is that it requires less land than landfills. Recovery disposes 99.999% of organic waste if properly carried out at 1200°C temperature and ambient oxygen (Hill, 2004). Energy recovered from the process can be utilized for electricity generation. Although it appears to be an extremely attractive option, the high financial start-up and operational capital required to implement incineration facilities is a major barrier to successful adoption in developing countries (United Nations Environmental Programme, 1996). Lastly in the hierarchy is reporting which involved disclosure of industry environmental performanceinformation, similar to the publication of its wastes generation information. Thus, process of communicating the social and environmental effects of industrial wastes to particular interest groups within society and to society at large (Gray, Owen and Adams, 1995).
In the past few years, research on air pollution (WM) in Nigeria has focused essentially on contextualizing waste recycling as an approach to urban environmental management and livelihoods (Adeyemi, Olorunfemi and Adewoye, 2001; Agunwamba, 2003; Nzeadibe and Eziuzor, 2006; Nzeadibe and Iwuoha, 2008). The knowledge of waste reduction, reuse, recycling, recovery and reporting known as the 5s, might not be totally new in the Nigerian context. Rather, it is the current sophistication involved, which is the 5R that is rather new. Waste facilities in developing countries are minimal, but substantial quantities are diverted for recycling (Tajuddeen, 2003).
In spite of the enormous benefits associated with Industrial waste management strategies such as the 5Rs, only a handful of countries are able to put them into practice. For instance, most of the economically developed countries are still unable to report, restore and recycle much of their waste (Anthony, 2009). Unfortunately, many people in African countries including Nigeria, until recently, regard the concern for effective strategies for managing industrial waste as a less important issue which may distract attention from the most urgent and serious problem of achieving a fast rate of economic growth. This attitude stems in part from the belief that environmental degradation with industrial waste generation is an inevitable price of development (Salau, 1992; Chukwu, 2010). Generally, the levels of concentration of heavy metal pollutants in river kubanni is on steady increase as observed by Iguisi et al. (2001) and Ewa et al. (2004). Thus, industries contribute greatly in the pollution of the water body close to it and the environment thus posing serious toxicological risk (Udiba et al., 2012).It is on this note that this study attempts an assessment of air pollution strategies using Jega Metropolis as the spatial focus.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Air pollution is of great importance due to lack of proper planning and management of wastes which leads to extensive pollution of surface and ground water, soil and atmosphere of surrounding environment (Vahidi, 2012). In the last decades, the uncontrollable impact of industrial waste on the natural environment has created critical ecological sustainable problems (Burritt, Hahn and Schaltegger, 2002).
One of the major environmental problems encountered in Nigeria is industrial wastes management (Alakinde, 2013). Industrial wastes are hazardous in nature and about 80% of the industries in Nigeria discharge solid, liquid and gaseous effluent directly into the environment without prior treatment (NESREA, 2007). The solid industrial wasted is dumped on land as it constitutes environmental nuisance. Some are also disposed in the drainages which block the flow of water and this is a breeding ground of insect-vector which transmits diseases. The liquid industrial waste is emptied directly into the streams and this pollutes the water and make it unfit for drinking. Meanwhile, industrial fuels burning and production processes produce dangerous gas and dust, which when inhaled and these have certain health impacts such as morbidity caused by dizziness, vomiting, and headache including death from lead poisoning, (World Bank, 1995).
It is a known fact that the developing countries lack the necessary information to set priorities, strategies, and action plans on environmental issues (Osibanjo, 2009). Plant- level monitoring of air, water and toxic waste emissions is at best imperfect, monitoring equipment is not available and where available is obsolete; data collection and measurement methodology are questionable, and there is usually lack of trained personnel on industrial sites (Oketola and Osibanjo, 2009). Waste abatement technologies are largely absent and the consequence is a gross pollution of natural resources and environmental media.
Omole and Alakinde (2013) examined the influence of socio-economic factors on waste generation and disposal in Ibadan metropolis. The study which made use of questionnaires, direct interview and correlation matrix realized that waste generated in the metropolis is a reflection of variation of socio-economic factors of the people. Also, the socio-economic factors such as income, age, education, and occupation and building types have greater influence in the choice of methods of disposal in Ibadan Metropolis. Their findings showed that 65% of waste was generated by the residents, 3.3% by commercials while 17% of waste generated by the Industries. While the predominant management method of the industrial waste generated was recycling (13%) and energy recovery (4%) is the least practice. Recycling and resources recovery are implemented in Nigeria and these is quite not significant compares to many developed countries (Wilson et al., 2009)
Ajero and Chigbo (2014) in their study on the evaluation of air pollution approaches in some industries in Aba, noted that there was inadequate provision of protective measure in most of the industry and the awareness of respondents to the consequences of improper air pollution was high (75.50%) while the level of attendance of health and safety treatment training was average (46.25%), however, none of the industries had health policy plan. The finding shows that open dumping (46%) which is the least acceptable method superseded the others while sanitary landfill (15.1%) and burning (13.5%) ranked 2nd and3rd respectively. These finding agree with those of Olafusi (2004) and Iman et al. (2007) who reported that in most cities of Nigeria and other developing countries, the greater percentages of waste generated waste are dumped on the surface of the ground along major roads, streets and open spaces.
The assessment of air pollution problems greatly varies depending on the nature of industry, their location and mode of disposal of waste (NESREA, 2007). Sound air pollution cycle helps in reducing the adverse impacts on the human health and environment, while enhancing the lifestyle and developing the economic state of the country.
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What are the type and composition of waste generated by the industries in Jega Metropolis?
2. What are the air pollution practices adopted by the industries the study area?
3. What are the health effects of air pollution practices on communities in the study area?
1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. Identify the types and composition of waste generated by industries in Jega Metropolis.
2. Examine the air pollution practices adopted by industries in study area.
3. Examine the health effects of air pollution on communities in the study area
1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study is confined to the assessment of air pollution in Jega Metropolis and the health implication. In terms of spatial extent, it covered the two industrial estates of Jega Metropolis which are Dakace and Chikaji industrial estates. The industries include Sunseed Nigeria Limited, Olam Nigeria Plc., and Premier Seed and Nemacol Limited. The industries were categorized under Food and Agro- Industries. These industries were basically selected because of the typical nature of their production activities, types of raw materials used, and methods of waste disposals. The temporal scope covered the air pollution practices as at 2020.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Air pollution has become a major development challenge in Jega Metropolis in recent times. This deserves not only the attention of the air pollution institutions but also concerns of corporate organizations and individuals to find a lasting solution to the problem. This is because, human health and resource could be lost through poor air pollution and this will affect productivity. Careless and indiscriminate disposal of industrial waste and effluents contribute to the spread of disease such as cancer, liver and lungs failure (Environ quest, 2007). Reduction, reuse, recycle, recovery and reporting are some of the conservation means for sustainable natural resource management, including industrial waste (NESREA, 2015). This is the environmental justification for this study. Inefficient means of waste disposal has led to pollution of the environment, this result to untimely human deaths, which was estimated to about 20,000 in a year (NEMA,1998). Poor air pollution has been found to result into pollution of both surface and ground water through the leachate draining and impairing the permeability of soils as well as blockage of drainage systems (NEMA, 1998).
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