Quantification and Characterization of Solid Waste at Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

Municipal solid waste quantification and characterization form the cornerstones of an effective solid waste management strategy but in Nigerian universities, the necessary processes of collection, transportation, characterization, and disposal are terribly understudied and rarely executed. Thus, using the ASTM D5231-92 technique, this study quantified and described the waste created at Lead City University and suggested potential integrated solid waste management strategies for a sustainable waste management. At the time of the research work, there were 14,636 students enrolled at Lead City University overall, with 11,797 (80.60%) of them residing off campus. The university's average weekly generation of solid waste was estimated to be 15.85146 tons during the one-year study period from August 16 to July 15, 2022/2023 academic session. The largest portion of this waste was generated by university eateries and male and female hostels, at 6 tons and 4 tons, respectively. Dump site and hostel have highest number of biodegradable wastes of 31.14% and 41.16% respectively, followed by paper and cardboard waste of 42.12 1nd 24.14. However, metals and glass waste have least number in all category sampled. An approximate study of the organic MSW produced at LCU, Ibadan revealed that moisture content has the highest percentage of 65.2% in food waste (mixed), volatile matter in plastic (95%), fixed carbon and ash in textiles/rubber/leather (16.2% and 7.0% respectively). 0.72%, 0.69%, 9.96%, 0.81%, 1.36%, 8.24%, 4.16%, 1.23%, 72.74%, and 0.08% were the respective representations of wood, rubber, paper, gravel, metal, plastic, textiles (leader & cloth), glass and ceramics, organic materials, and hospital wastes. On campus, each person generates roughly 0.5 kilogram of solid garbage per day, but out of every category studied, the least amount of waste is made of glass and metals. The university's differently dominating areas exhibit varying quantities and compositions of wastes, as demonstrated by T-test, ANOVA, and Chi-Square. This variety in location is primarily responsible for these differences. Solid waste generation reduction, re-usage, recycling, composting, appropriate training, the provision of incentives and other fiscal policies, and other integrated solid waste management techniques were suggested as solutions to the obstacles to successful solid waste management