By HOSEA NYAMLONG
The current state of waste management in Plateau State is of major concern due to the high rate of waste generation and poor management practices within the city centre and environs.
Today, Nigeria produces an estimated 32 million tons of solid waste per year, with only about 20-30 percent of it being collected and managed correctly. The remainder of the waste is either dumped in unauthorised places or burned, contributing to pollution and health risks to the populace.
Sources have attributed that waste disposal leads to direct and indirect environmental impacts, such as land occupation, resource depletion, amplification of global warming due to methane and other greenhouse gas emissions, waters intoxication due to land-filling, as well as acidification and toxic effects from emissions to air in the case of incineration. Direct impacts of waste represent a significant but comparatively small share of climate change, while resource depletion among similar effects is linked to indirect environmental impacts.
This is mainly because indirect results of wastes are linked with the extraction and processing of different resources to produce different types of products while focusing on the output rather than the input in many industries. This shows how indirect impacts of incorrect management of waste can be more devastating and present the highest potential.
In addition, waste management has many definitions, associated with the different approaches, procedures, design and implementation to identify, control and handle the different types of waste from generation and until disposal.
The full implementation of waste management processes, including waste prevention and reuse, and recycling wherever possible, has and can further help avoid considerable environmental impacts when assessed from a life-cycle perspective, considering direct effects such as emissions and indirect effects such as resource depletion.
Poor waste disposal practices within Jos metropolis has seriously hamper the progress towards an integrated solid waste management in households. METRO FOCUS gathered that the current practices of waste disposal from household and market settlements has contributed in littering the environment with solid waste and also polluting the atmosphere with an offensive odour.
It was observed that places like Ahmadu Bello way, Rwang Pam street, AP Fillling Station, Katako Market, Farin Gada Market, Railway Market, Gada Biu Market, Bukuru Market, behind Old Juth Market, the famous Terminus Market and Terminus roundabout, were among places visited. Investigation has revealed that the household waste disposal practices and perceptions about waste management is very poor.
Considering the campaign against dirty environment by the past successive governments, and taking steps to create environmental sanitation services within their administrative machinery and to train qualified personnel to carry out the sanitation work and inspection, they have not yielded much results to the effect of keeping the Jos metropolis and environs clean as expected.
Despite government’s efforts in engaging private cleaning agencies that would help in waste management and disposal, most parts of Jos and environs are far from neat. Waste products at various disposal points within the city centre is yet to see the light of the day.
In spite of this, citizens observing sanitation every last Saturday of the month, so as to make sure that the citizens clean their environment, in other to have a healthy life has failed.
It is been said that cleanliness is next to godliness.This has to do with healthy environment.These two things are very important in the life of the public because for one to be healthy, one’s environment must be clean.
Similarly, increasing population is a plausible reason for the poor state of the environment. It is a fact that it is easier to keep the environment neat if the population is not too much to handle.This is why a market gets dirty easily. That is the reason why hospitals have to be swept several times to keep it neat.
On this note, dirty environment causes many communicable disease which include frequent diarrhoea and vomiting.These signs usually start suddenly, one to five days after ingestion of the germ.
On the other hand, turning waste to wealth is another global trendy concept that is trying to keep the environment clean and safe for inhabitants to live and to also make money out of it. The waste to wealth initiative focuses on planning and affordable technology in tackling and converting waste generated in the entire country into useful products.
These components include creation of a sorting centre/recycling kiosks for recyclable buy-back arrangement and entrepreneurship opportunities; developing market links for recyclables between the community and resource recovery centres, Instead of people dumping their solid waste into water ways, littering environment, would be a way to generate income rather than destroying the ecosystem.
However, waste management is the collection, transport, processing,recycling or disposal, and monitoring of waste materials. A typical waste management system comprises collection, transportation, pre-treatment, processing, and final abatement of residues.
The purpose of waste management is to provide sanitary living conditions to reduce the amount of matter that enters or leaves the society and encourage the reuse of matter within the society.
The goal is the reduction of total amount of waste by reduction and recycling of refuse, recycling and re-introduction of suitable groups of substances into production cycles as secondary raw material or energy carrier, re-introduction of biological waste into the natural cycle,best-possible reduction of residual waste quantities, which are to be disposed on suitable landfills,flexible concept concerning fluctuations in waste quantities and the composition of domestic waste. New developments in the field of waste management must be included into the developing country like Nigeria. Waste should be properly managed because of the huge amount of waste deposit that emanate within our society and the health hazard it poses which is a threat to the lives of the citizens.
Waste management offers business opportunities that both government, private and individuals venture into because of its great potentials in turning waste into wealth.
Environmental sanitation would improve and promote hygiene in our environment.
