Municipal solid waste recycling, resource recovery and public health challenges: a regional case study of Enugu, Nigeria

Amidst infrastructure deficit for waste management, increasing municipal solid waste is generated in developing countries. Recycling and resource recovery have challenges. Recycling needs to supplement landfill practices, faces challenges. Also, resource recovery has challenges. These challenges conspire to worsen the already bad environmental and public health conditions. This study was aimed at investigating the challenges and possible solutions to municipal solid waste (MSW) recycling and resource recovery in Nigeria, using Enugu—one of Nigeria’s 10 largest municipalities—for the regional case study. The survey study used a questionnaire to generate the challenges and solutions to municipal solid waste recycling and resource recovery from purposively selected 221 staff of ministries, departments and agencies in Enugu. 22 challenges to municipal solid waste recycling and resource recovery and 19 solutions to the challenges were collated. Principal Component Analysis showed 16 significant challenges and 8 significant solutions from frequency lists. These challenges and possible solutions were discussed against the backdrop of related environmental and public health issues. Mindfulness of the significant challenges and of the possible solutions will help to better engage municipal solid waste recycling, resource recovery (MSW3Rs) in environmental and public health issues in Nigeria and other developing countries, thereby contributing to the achievement of the goals of related international programmes. The study sought to address SDG 11.6 to improve environmental performance of Enugu City, address UNEP goal of increasing the fraction of recycled and composted wastes, and address the UNDP goal of zero waste tolerance in Enugu municipality.