MIXED PLASTIC WASTE AS AN INTRACTABLE ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM IN ABUJA, NIGERIA

The greatest environmental issue in the urban areas of Nigeria is solid waste management and the most intractable are the mixed plastic wastes. Mixed plastics, especially Polypropylene (PP/5) found in confectionery packets and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE/1) found in soft drinks bottles are commonly used as packaging materials by the manufacturing sector within the country. Due to the high rate of generation, these mixed plastics are found in abundance littering major streets of Nigeria. The greatest challenge is that these mixed plastics are non-biodegradable and therefore cannot be used as compost by the local communities and Government does not also seem to possess the capacity to recycle them. This paper examines mixed plastic waste in Abuja, Nigeria and its environmental hazards with the aim of sensitizing solid waste managers and the general public to finding sustainable solutions to the problem. Survey method was used to administer 400 questionnaire to residents of Abuja, Nigeria. The results indicated only 43% of residents have waste collection services available to them, with infrequent collections. Which corresponds with the high percentage of resident who use dumping; 65.7% as a method of disposing their waste. With a lot of plastic waste being generated thus results in a lot of plastic waste found littering the environment.