ASSESSMENT OF DOMESTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND HOUSEHOLD AWARENESS OF MODERN TECHNIQUES IN SAMINAKA TOWN, KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Household solid waste management strains environmental and public-health systems across sub-Saharan Africa, where collection infrastructure has not kept pace with urban growth and open dumping or burning is often the only option. Kaduna State assessments have documented these service gaps, yet no published study examines how households in the state's smaller towns manage waste or what they know about modern alternatives. This study addresses that gap for five streets in Saminaka, headquarters of Lere Local Government Area, through a cross-sectional survey of 380 households selected by systematic random sampling. Organic material was the predominant waste type for 85.5% of households, and disposal relied almost entirely on open dumping (58.2%) and burning (36.1%); none reported recycling, composting, or incineration as its primary method. Awareness was low for recycling (32.1%), composting (37.6%), sewage treatment (34.7%), and incineration (22.4%), with landfill (61.6%) the exception, most plausibly reflecting familiarity with pit-digging rather than with engineered landfill. Household waste is mostly compostable, yet awareness of composting is a minority position, a pattern consistent with the Knowledge-Attitude-Practice framework's caution that awareness does not become practice without infrastructure, although this descriptive study cannot test that link. The study recommends pilot composting alongside awareness programmes, and comparable research in other Kaduna State towns.