EBSEPA reports 2010, shows that municipal refuse disposal pattern is very poor. It is observed that despite presently public enlightenment programs on hygiene and health, Abakaliki urban as a whole seems to be retrogressing in her environmental cleanliness. Dustbins are not emptied regularly in the homes, offices and Market Square. This encourages insects and rodents breeding and spread of diseases.
In the immediate past, the national sanitation exercise instead of leaving the city clean, resulted to heaps of rubbish at various roads and junctions. Today refuse are not collected from homes by agents as required. Refuse are dumped indiscriminately into gutters and any available space by the populace. The street sweepers are not given adequate supervision and they are not well informed so they sweep into gutters thereby blocking drainage. This outflow onto the roads and homes during rain has become injurious and unsightly.
There is no placement of giant dustbins at strategic junctions to receive household refuse from the teaming population, old refuse site are no longer available for individual to dispose their refuse, therefore, people hide at night and throw refuse anywhere thereby causing nuisance in that area. Even in the final disposal site, the refuse is not adequately treated. This therefore provides a good breeding ground for bacteria, insects and rodents. Hogs feed freely in the area thereby encouraging zoonotic disease. The open dumps give off offensive odour and air pollution, occasional open burning causes smoke nuisance and respiratory irritation to the populace.
The present final dumping site at Enugu-Ogoja road suffers the same fate because no specific treatment is given to the refuse.
Another major problem of refuse disposal observed in Abakaliki urban is the irregular and improper collection and transportation in open vans. Sometimes these vans are overfilled with refuse and as they move along the roads to the final disposal sites, some of the waste fall out and litter the roads.
Also inadequate resources to work with, and bad roads have made regular collection of waste from the households impossible . This research is carried out to evaluate the municipal refuse disposal patterns in Abakaliki urban.
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