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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Waste Wastes are substances or objects which are disposed off or are intended to be disposed off or are required to be disposed off by the provisions of national laws (Basel Convention, 1989). They are unwanted residues that are usually perceived to be of negative value (Hamer, 2003). According to Taylor and Allen (2006), waste can be loosely defined as any material that is considered to be of no further use to the owner, hence discarded. It is generated universally and is a direct consequence of all human activities. It can also be defined as any unavoidable material resulting from an activity, which has no immediate economic demand and which must be disposed off (NISP, 2003). The major classification of wastes include solid, liquid and gaseous. Solid waste as defined by Olexa et al. (2003) includes garbage, refuse, yard trash, clean debris, white goods, special waste, ashes, residuals (sludge), solid, or semi-solid material, or contained gaseous material. The definition specifically includes agricultural, commercial, domestic, governmental, and mining wastes. The definition specifically excludes pollution. Liquid wastes are wastes dissolved in water emanating from industrial processes known as effluent, domestic liquid, acid waste and waste oil from workshop (NISP, 2003). While gaseous wastes are waste substances in the air (neither solid nor liquid) and they move freely to fill any available space.