Assessment of Challenges Associated with Waste Disposal in Zuru Town, Kebbi State

Abstract

The topic of environmental protection has attained highest importance in this era globally but the practices of basic concepts of waste disposal are often neglected. People around the globe are aware of the impact of improper waste disposal practices, but the negative attitude of implementation gives rise to chaotic situations. This study was conducted to assess the challenges associated with waste disposal in Zuru town, Kebbi state. This cross sectional study was conducted using a well-designed and validated questionnaire. Purposive sampling method was adopted to select three residential categories. After which Yamane’s formula was adopted to arrive at the sampling size of 312. The data was analyzed using frequency, percentage, Chi-square and ANOVA. The result shows that 58.3% of the respondents are female, 32.1% fall between the ages 30 and 39 years, while only 3.8% are above 60 years. Majority, (70.2%) possessed primary education; many (36.2%) are business personnel and only 9.6 of the respondents earn above ?100,000 per month. Result further shows that majority (80%) of the waste are non-biodegradable. Result also revealed that many (42.3%) of the households burns their waste. The result shows that 52.6% of households are ignorant of the problems associated with indiscriminate disposal of waste in the area while 47.4% claimed they are aware. A portion (61.2%) of the households identified environmental pollution as the major problem of indiscriminate waste disposal, 22.4% of the household claimed outbreak of diseases as the problem of indiscriminate waste disposal, 8.3% and 8.0% of them identified other problems and breeding of disease pathogens as the major problems of indiscriminate disposal of waste respectively. The level of ignorant of Zuru households about the problems associated with indiscriminate disposal of waste could be ascribed to inadequate sensitization about the menace of the improper disposal of waste in the area or low level of education. The study concludes that the waste generation from the different residential categories in Zuru town is both the biodegradable and non-biodegradable. The study recommends adequate sensitization on the menace of burning waste.