ABSTRACT
Sanitation is a very important aspect of human existence especially now in our modern societies. This is due to its health, environmental and aesthetics benefits. Today, with increase in human activities and industrialization, waste generation is on the increase and proper waste management which includes disposal, storage, collection, and treatment etc of the waste is necessary to keep these communities sane. Nigeria still adopts traditional waste management method which involves disposing, storing and collecting waste openly on ground surface, this poses health risks to community residents, causes environmental hazard and aesthetically unappealing.
In this work, physical based survey was carried out around Benin City and questionnaires were distributed to residents and waste generators in Oluku, Ekewan, Etete, Oko-Adp, Ugbiokho, Uselu Ugbowo, Benin City to obtain waste disposal, storage and collection practices and methods. Three concepts; Chain Lift, Hydraulic Lift, and Screw Lift were modelled. The Screw Lift was selected for further analysis, and was designed and fabricated to store domestic waste generated by a household of 7 persons for a period of 30 days pending evacuation.
The questionnaire distributed to over 400 residents in Benin City, Nigeria revealed inefficiencies in waste management practices which is due to a lot of factors including inadequate facilities as it shows that 37% of the people store their waste openly on ground surface space outside, 29% of the people prefer to make use of containers, 20% prefer to throw their household waste in the bush, 14% of the people bury in pits. Test on the device carried out during and after the fabrication show that the choice concept for the design of the UWB, in which components included waste container of 0.255m3, a motor of 0.5 HP, screw shafts of 20mm diameter, selected chain, sprockets bearings etc., was efficient and more effective in neatly storing the waste for 30 days; lifting the loaded container of waste and lowering the empty container during evacuation, therefore meeting the aim of the project.
