Household Plastic Waste Generation and Composition in Selected Locations Within Kaduna Metropolis

Abstract

Indiscriminate disposal of plastic waste is an emerging environmental and economic problems within Africa and other continents of the world. The aim of the research is to assesses the “generation, composition and the seasonal variation of household plastic waste generated in Kaduna metropolis”. Applying a stratified sampling method, the plastic waste was collected from 100 households within the metropolis and classified into the seven (7) types of plastics introduced by the Society of Plastic Industry. The plastic waste was sorted into the various groups using their Resin Identification code (RIC) and Katz (1998) method of identification of polymers for the noncoded plastics. A total of 6052.45 Kg of Household plastic waste generated by 1516 residents from 100 household were collected and analysed. A mean per capita generation of 0.067kg/cap/day was calculated for the entire study area with an estimated annual generation rate of 53,601.95 tonnes/year. A significant variation in waste generation was observed between the two seasons (p < 0.05) with the Dry-season having a mean per capita generation of 0.060 kg/cap/day and 0.067 kg/cap/day for Wet seasons. Household plastic waste stream in Kaduna metropolis comprise of PET (15.73%), HDPE (10.47%), PVC (1.26%), LDPE (27.51%), PP (8.95%), PS (8.93%) and Others plastics (27.15%). The average bulk density of household plastic waste in Kaduna metropolis was 69.24 kg/m³ which varies significantly (p < 0.05) between the seasons with a mean bulk density of 67.83 kg/m³ in dry season and 70.65 kg/m³ in wet season. The mean Moisture content of generated household plastic waste in Kaduna Metropolis was 10.38% which varies significantly (p < 0.05) between the seasons with a mean moisture content of 8.83% in dry season and 11.93% in wet season.