General Background
There has been an increasing concern about the environment in which man lives. Solid wastes mount of rubbish, garbage and sewage are being produced everyday by our urban society. Waste is anything which is no longer of use to the disposer. It can also be defined as any unavoidable material resulting from an activity which has no immediate economic demand and which must be disposed o (NISP 2003). In an attempt to dispose of these materials, man has carelessly polluted the environment. Waste is commonly classified into three. These are solid, liquid and gaseous waste. Solid wastes are residual from homes, business and institutions. It refers to as a trash, garbage, rubbish, refuse, discards and throwaways that are no longer relevant to the disposer. For examples broken bricks, broken glass and bottles can, plastics, paper, battery casings, plantain skin and nylon (Adedibu, 1982). In a traditional underdeveloped world, a fact that partly reflects the sampling locations considered in the present work, household wastes are completely biodegradables and homogenous. Consequently, both biodegradable and non-biodegradable materials now constitute household wastes. In the past, men thought the environment has an infinite capacity to devour its waste without any ill effects. Recently, however, man’s health and welfare are being affected by environmental pollution. These pollutants are substances present naturally in the environment but when released in significant amount by humans, become toxic. The world health organization (WHO) estimates that more than 20% of the world population (around 1.3 billion people) has no safe drinking water and that more than 40% of all populations lack adequate sanitation (Dastridge and Trent, 1999). Poor water quality is still a significant problem in many parts of the world. It can often limit the use of these vital resources and in more extreme cases can harm human and other life species. Water can also be polluted by substances that dissolve in it or by solid particles and insoluble liquid droplets that become suspended in it (Plant et al; 2001)