1
1.0 Introduction 1.1 Background to the Study The population of mega cities across the globe as at 2016 was 500 million inhabitants and this represents 6.8% of the world’s estimated population of 7.4 billion. It is projected that this figure will rise to 730 million people in 2030, representing a further 8.7% of the global population United Nations, 2016). It naturally follows therefore that, as cities continue to see population upsurge and changing urban
life consumption patterns, there will bean increase in per capita solid waste generation with a consequent rise in the volume of municipal solid waste. Njoku,
et al (2015) rightly noted that, industrialisation coupled with rapid urbanisation and increasing population size have resulted in the rising volume of wastes, especially in countries with low human development index. As at 2012, cities across the world generated 1.3 billion
tons of solid waste per year, which translates to 1.2 kilograms per capita; this is expected to increase to 2.2 billion tons by 2025 World Bank, 2017). This clearly indicates that tons of solid waste resources are released globally into the waste stream thus necessitating urgent actions towards effectively
managing these resources, otherwise we would be faced with threat to lives, properties and the environment, especially in developing economies where there is not enough capacity to deal with emergencies.
It is worthy of note that, while the industrialized nations are utilising solid waste resources to support their energy and agricultural needs, developing countries are still confronted with the challenges of collection, transportation
and disposal of solid wastes, which are elementary aspects of municipal waste management (Moya,
et al, 2017). The industrialized worlds, for example, the European Union have shown that the best way of effectively utilizing waste resources is ensuring proper collection from the point of generation. They have achieved this
by putting systems in place, backed with enabling legislation that places a responsibility on their citizens to separate solid waste materials at source, as this ensures that loss of vital resources in the waste stream is eliminated or at least minimized (Capel, 2008). Lagos, Nigeria’s densely populated centre of commerce of 13.66 million inhabitants in 2016 with a projection of 24.239 million people in 2030 (United Nations, 2016), is a mega city where the source separation of household solid waste (an integral part of municipal solid waste) should be
10 1
2 in the core of its municipal solid waste management efforts. Given that the source separation of solid waste is a critical part of sustainable municipal
solid waste management (Vassanadumrongdee & Kittipongvises, 2017), this research will assess the source separation of household solid wastes in Alimosho Local Government Area, the settlement in Lagos with the highest population (NPC, 2006), in a bid to ascertain whether this fast-growing mega city has a system in place for the effective utilisation of its vast waste resources.
Share with your friends: 
