Residential Solid Waste Management in Sango-Ota, Ogun State: To Recycle or Not to Recycle?

Abstract

Sango-Ota, like other fast urbanizing towns and cities in Nigeria is faced with a range of problems including poor state of roads, lack of potable water and epileptic electrical power supply, inappropriate solid waste management, etc. Ota, being a town with two universities, a prominent church and a host of industries, the problems posed by residential solid waste littering the major routes in the town appears to be the most prominent in recent times. Living with solid waste littered around has been embarrassing to visitors from far and near. This paper examined the visibility or otherwise of solid waste recycling program in Sango-Ota bearing in mind her dual roles of a gateway to Lagos, Abeokuta and Cotonou on one hand and her status of hosting two private universities as well as one of the leading Christian Church in the world – the Winners Chapel. Structured questionnaires, supported with interviews and observations were adopted to collect primary data from households, waste collectors, buyers/sellers and a waste recycling company. Secondary data were obtained through journal articles and books. Percentages and ranking were employed for the analysis of data collected while presentation was with the aid of tables. The results obtained indicated that government needs to encourage and support waste recycling companies in land acquisition documentation, equipment importation, site security and regular power supply. In addition, government should encourage traditional waste recycle workers/buyers/sellers to form cooperative societies as a means of strengthening their solidarity and increasing their income. To have a sustainable clean environment, solid waste materials’ recycling has come to stay subject to the government political will at the local and State levels.

Key works: Residential Solid Waste, Solid Waste Management, Recycle, Sango-Ota, Nigeria.