Browsing by Author "Nwaobi, Alexander Okechukwu"

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    Assessment of solid waste management at selected shops in selected markets in Owerri, Imo State
    (Federal University of Technology, Owerri, 2021-12) Nwaobi, Alexander Okechukwu
    This is a cross-sectional study carried out in three selected markets in Owerri Municipal namely: Owerri Main Market, New Market and the Relief Market, with the aim of assessing the solid waste management at selected shops in selected markets in Owerri. The aim was achieved with six objectives including to assess the characteristics of the solid waste generated, to determine the methods of handling solid waste generated, to determine the pattern of Solid Waste Disposal, to determine the frequency of solid waste refuse dump removal, to determine the organs responsible for solid waste disposal and the level of government involvement and to rate solid waste management in the selected shops in the selected markets in Owerri, Imo state. This was done using a validated structured questionnaire and an observational checklist. Simple random sampling technique was used; selections were performed using the number of available shops at each market from the market masters registers, the shops were divided by the number of block lines at each market, using computer random number system, the included shops were randomly selected from each block line. Only one person (the shop owner or the most available senior person in the shop) was chosen per selected shop, at situations where some selected shops refused participation, the shops were randomly replaced using simple random without replacement mechanism to avoid selecting an already visited shop. The process continued until the required sample size was obtained at each market of study. Sample size of 370 markets traders were randomly selected from the study population. The sample size was determined at 95% confidence level using the Taro Yammane sample size formula. Where n=sample size required, e = 0.05 allowable error. Substituting for the numbers in formula: Taro Yammane, method used (Yammane, 1967). Sample size required n, e=0.05 allowable error. For Owerri Main Market n =126, New Market Owerri n= 77 and The Relief Market Owerri n = 197. Therefore, the total sample size n =96+77+197 = 370. The results showed that the most generated waste in the markets were plastic waste (86.5%) including used pure water satchets and used waterproofs and spoilt foods (69%). More than half (50.5%) of the waste were collected with nylon bags and packaged with same without segregation. The dominant means of waste disposal in the markets were burning 40.3% and open dumping 36.8%. The frequency of solid waste dump removal was predominantly weekly 42.2% with government being upto 75.7% responsible for solid waste disposal in the markets. The overall rating of solid waste management in the markets was overwhelmingly not satisfactory 90.3%. The study therefore concluded that solid waste management in these studied markets was very poor. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that strict environmental sanitary regulations be made in these markets with enforcement team to penalize defaulters of the regulations.