Assessment of Automobile Waste Management Practices in Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess automobile waste management practices in Osun State, Nigeria. The study answered two research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study and population for the study was 388 respondents comprised of 208 registered automobile mechanics master craftsmen and 18 officials of all waste management regulatory agencies in Osun State. A structured questionnaire which contains 37 items designed to obtain information from the respondents. The data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and ztest statistics to test the null hypotheses 1 and 2. Based on the data analyzed the following findings among others revealed that hazardous automobile waste are usually stored in closed containers neither collected by licensed agencies, used refrigerants from vehicle are not collected in approved recovery equipment for of-site reclamation, the used oils generated from mechanics workshop are disposed around their workshop to control dust and weeds, battery charger, discharged used acid anywhere around their shop. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made: environmental agencies should introduce public enlightenment and education on the consequences of indiscriminate disposal of automobile wastes, periodic monitoring and assessment of automobile waste management by environmental agencies should be conducted as stipulated by law and shops alleged for environmental pollution be sanctioned.