Household Waste Management Logistics Practice in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract

Waste management is a major problem plaguing most cities in developing economies, including Nigeria. The issues of waste management, particularly in Lagos, Nigeria, are not unconnected to the unprecedented population increase with a poor integrative process of handling and transporting waste from points of generation to disposal, which in turn affects the healthiness of residents and the sustainability of the built environment at large. Based on this backdrop, this paper examined the household waste management logistics practice in the Lagos Metropolis. The primary data used consists of a questionnaire distributed to residents, supplemented by structured interviews with PSP operators and personal field observations. Systematic-random sampling was used to administer 694 units of the questionnaire. Findings revealed that organic (food) waste, which is mostly stored in drums, accounted for most of the generated household waste. It also revealed that transport distance and environmental attributes are the most important factors affecting the performance of waste collectors in waste management logistics. This study further revealed that PSP operational performance is far from being efficient as the volume of waste evacuated is low and the turnaround time of fleets is extremely high. Our study also revealed that transportation plays the most significant role in waste management logistics. Our study, however, recommends, among others, that the operations of waste management should not be limited to PSP operators but also involve the local government authorities, while improved quality of transport options and route optimization are recommended mechanisms for mitigating logistics weaknesses in waste management practices.

Keywords: Waste management, logistics, transport, private sector participation PSP and Lagos Metropolis.