Our Attitude Towards Solid Waste Management

Solid wastes commonly referred to as trash or garbage in the United State and refuse or rubbish in Britain and Nigeria is a waste consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public, examples of these wastes are food and kitchen waste, paper, glass, plastic bottles, nylon, fabric etc.

 Solid waste management in Nigeria have been a major challenge to most government and the people of Nigeria as a whole, despite the effort of certain state in Nigeria to manage waste generated by their populace effectively, you still find solid waste litter the streets and drainage of most cities towns and villages in Nigeria. Despite the lack of infrastructure, and poor management of solid waste in certain state in Nigeria, few states have actually made reasonable progress in managing solid waste in the country. Despite the effort of these few state you still find waste litter most part of the street in these states. Although the government have a lot of role to play in solid waste management, its citizen also have a fair share of roles to play in other to manage solid waste properly.

A look at our society today shows our poor attitude towards waste management. They include,

• People dropping their waste on the street without proper bagging or use of proper trash cans; therefore most of these wastes later find their way back to the street or drainage. 
• In most market and some residential areas, people dump waste on roadside or street corners.
• Most people drop waste such as sachet water packs, pet bottles, disposal packs, nylon, cans,
• paper on the street as soon as they consume the product, the packaging material is thrown on the floor, irrespective of where they are.
• Most people after buying and consuming products or food items in traffic they throw the waste or packaging materials through their cars windows to the streets, highway or expressway. These wastes in turn litter the environment or find their way to drainage and block them which would in turn lead to flooding when it rains.

• Most small/roadside shops do not make available trash cans or dustbin thereby encouraging consumers to discard waste on the floor or street.

It is a well known fact that Nigeria's waste management system is still archaic; we can also help our various communities and improve our environment by improving our attitude towards solid waste management by avoiding the observations made above. Correcting and enlightening our neighbors and people around us on the right and proper ways to dispose waste. Remember a cleaner and safer environment begins with you.