Waste Generation and Trend among Households in Bida Town, Nigeria

Abstract

Urbanization bring about an increase in population with consequent increase in municipal solid waste generation in Bida, a town with significance economic, social, cultural, environmental, and national tourism influence as heritage setting. However, there is dearth of basic data for solid waste management design. This study was carried out to quantify and characterize the solid waste generated by households within Bida town. A total of 400 households were sampled using a stratified random technique based on ‘core traditional’ and ‘modern’ settings. The study employed experimental approach involves the weighing of household’s daily solid waste generation three consecutive days for four months using weighing Scale after sorting. The per capita waste generation and future waste generation was estimated. The result reveals that 1,085 kg of solid wastes was generated at the average generation rate of 0.47 kg/capita/day in Bida. This indicated that based on this rate the town have generated 150.49 metric tons of solid waste per day, equivalent to 55million tons in that same year (2020). The scenario is estimated to increase to 299.58 metric tons per day at an average generation rate of 0.64kg/capita and 1.09billion tons for the year 2030 based on projected population of 468,096 for the town. This study revealed rapid increase in the rate of household solid waste generation in Bida, thus recommending modalities to exploit recycling options to or convert solid waste to energy, thus a good solution for waste management.