Impact of Waste Recycling on Environmental Quality and Revenue Generation: Case Study of University of Lagos, Nigeria

International Journal of Contemporary Research and Review Received 28-07-2021 | Revised 20-08-2021 | Accepted 24-08-2021 | Published Online 26-08-2021

DOI: https://doi.org/https://ijcrr.info/index.php/ijcrr/article/view/915/918 ISSN (O) 0976-4852 IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 (2021)

Forestry and Environmental

Impact of Waste Recycling On Environmental Quality and Revenue Generation: Case Study of University Of Lagos, Nigeria

Adaobi Okudo Joseph A. Omojolaibi, Oladele Mubarak

Abstract Post-consumption environmental impact has become an important issue all over the world. Waste generation and disposal is a basic part of any developing or industrial nation. Waste volumes are predicted to continue rising unless action is taken in order to keep down the problem. This study investigates the impact of recycling on environmental quality and revenue generation in University of Lagos, Nigeria, using descriptive analysis and two linear regression models’ analyses. Questionnaires were distributed to staff, students and residents of the University, as well as, an interview conducted with a resource person from the recycling unit of the University. The duo analysis employed shows that recycling has a significant impact on revenue generation and environmental quality. Though, it discovers that level of sophistication of technology used has no impact on revenue generated; also, level of income of the people has no significant impact on environmental quality. In this light, the study recommends that the university management should increase its awareness of the importance of recycling and also provide more disposal bin spots on campus, so as to increase its revenue generation capacity. Furthermore, to spur economic growth while ensuring an excellent environmental quality, there is need for strong institutions to enact effective policy, rules and regulation that will support sustainable development. To this end, we also recommend that government and concerned authorities lend supportive hands to individuals and establishments interested in promoting the recycling process. JEL Classification- D31, P64, H23, Q53, Q31 Keywords: Environmental Quality, Recycling, Environmental Kuznets Curve, Environmental Convergence Hypothesis

IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL 20211 1 INTRODUCTION waste can constitute hazards to the society through the pollution of air, land and especially water. aste generation and disposal is a basic part of any developing or industrial nation. Arguably, Nigeria has not done well in the direction Every time a household shops at the store of tackling the menace of domestic waste. This is W even in the face of advanced management strate- and in open markets, he contributes to the mountain of waste accumulation within his immediate environ- gies existing today for domestic waste management ment; and by implication, the country at large. Waste, which have been adopted in many places. A proper both from domestic and commercial sources, has waste management system would help to ensure a good environmental quality and generate revenue grown significantly in Nigeria over the past decade. for the government. The growing volume of waste The percent of Nigeria’s population living in cities spawned by changes in consumption patterns is pre- and urban areas has more than doubled in the last 15 senting a formidable challenge to all. The problem years (Jimoh, 2005). is how to deal with a large increase in waste without A major issue confronting Nigerian Government is changing the lifestyles of the people. effective waste disposal mechanism and waste recy- The current practice in most municipalities is to cling. A considerable amount of waste is generated dispose of their waste into open garbage dumps. when consumers procure and use products. This dis- More economically, advanced countries have opted posal of waste has become a serious problem in Nige- for sanitary landfills and/or incinerators. Basically, ria due to the increase in the number of consumers the search for environmentally safe and socially (population) that led to high waste generation, hence, acceptable lands for waste disposal has become a the need for waste recycling to ascertain a cleaner recurrent concern that seems impossible to solve. environment (Omojolaibi and Nathaniel 2020). Many communities have investigated many options, Generally speaking, recycling of products (waste) but finding a site for a new landfill is becoming ex- has become an area of concern across countries tremely difficult because of the “not in my backyard” because it occupies an important position in the (NIMBY) syndrome. It is expected that with fur- supply chain with the growing necessity of cost min- ther urbanization and industrialization, this problem imization, and reduction of environmental impacts. will get worse. Pressure to protect the environment Recycling prevents the waste of potentially useful and nation at large is now coming from the public materials and reduce the consumption of fresh raw through media reports and Non-Governmental Orga- materials, thereby reducing energy usage, air pollu- nizations (NGOs). tion (from incineration) and water pollution (from From the foregoing, recycling is key in reducing landfill). waste threats. While mandatory recycling has been The cities and urban areas experience continuous legalized in countries like New Jersey since 1987, growth which contributes enormously to the gen- there are several countries who are not yet onboard eration of solid and liquid waste. A look into the with recycling and have not realized that recycling implication of this waste accumulation shows that does not only makes environmental sense, but also, a the management of waste is a matter of national sound economic sense. According to Lisa (2015), on and international concern. The volume of waste does a global scale, recycling has encouraged the growth not actually constitute the problem but the ability of industries, increased revenue and created jobs. or inability of governments, individuals and waste disposal firms to keep up with the task of managing Supplementary information The online version waste and the environment. There is no doubt that of this article (https://ijcrr.info/index.php/ijcrr/artic a dirty environment affects the standard of living, le/view/915/918) contains supplementary material, aesthetic sensibilities, health of the people and thus which is available to authorized users. the quality of their lives (Mowoe, 1990). The con- Corresponding Author: Adaobi Okudo sequence is that improper disposal or storage of this

IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL 20211 IMPACT OF WASTE RECYCLING ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND REVENUE GENERATION: CASE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS, NIGERIA What is more important to the generators of waste, 2.1.2 Environmental Quality however, are the dollar savings that can be realized through recycling. Such savings are realized Less technically, environmental quality is the degree when the avoided cost of disposal, reductions in to which the naturally-occurring resources of the planet (land, air, and water) are free of artificial needed solid waste services and potential revenue impurities or waste products generated by human from the sale of recyclables are factored into the activity. Pollution is the primary problem of environ- overall equation. Of course, there are some costs mental quality. As pollution waste residuals are dis- associated with recycling, as there are with all other charged into the environment, environmental quality day-to-day operations overseen by companies and declines. Like other economic notions, environmen- organizations, however, generators of waste will see tal quality is subjective in the sense that it affects the the economic benefits of a well-run and successful satisfaction of wants and needs. recycling program over time. The avoided cost of disposal is the amount of money that is saved by 2.1.3 Environmental Security not having to send waste to a landfill, incinerator or transfer station for disposal. It will vary depending At its most fundamental level, according to Bartone upon the fee charged for garbage disposal at the (1991), security is believed to connote the efforts facility. to protect a population and territory against any organised force while advancing the state’s interests On this note, the overall objective of this study is to through competitive actions. When this definition of examine the impact of recycling on environmental security gained importance, the state was considered quality and revenue generation in University of La- as the sole entity capable of guaranteeing a nation’s gos, Nigeria. The specific objectives are to: security.

2.1.4 Solid Waste Management • Investigate the impact of recycling on environmental quality in University of Lagos. Solid waste management reduces environmental problem in the cities and towns. Just according • Examine the impact of recycling on revenue to Stanton (2012), it addresses the problem of in- discriminate dumping of waste in the environment generation in University of Lagos. which has remained a concern to many communities. Poor solid-waste management system portends serious environmental crisis in most towns and cities. 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Therefore, it is necessary to estimate the amount and determine the composition of the mismanaged solid 2.1 Conceptual Review waste in the environment.

2.1.1 Environment

According to Oyeniyi (2011), environment refers 2.2 Theorecal Review to all of the external factors affecting an organism. It could also mean all the circumstances, people, 2.2.1 Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) things, and events around an organism; a person, a Kuznets curve (KC) is the graphical representation community, that influence an individual’s life. These of Kuznets hypothesis that economic inequality in- factors or circumstances may be other living organ- creases over time while a country is developing, then isms (biotic factors) or nonliving variables (abiotic after a critical average income is attained, begins to factors), such as temperature, rainfall, day length, decrease. This is due to gaps in compensation, edu- wind, and ocean currents. cation and opportunities. This curve is also known

IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 (2021) MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL 20212 OKUDO, OMOJOLAIBI, AND MUBARAK MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL as the inverted-U curve. The environment is another 1994; Selden & Song, 1994; Grossman & Krueger, place where the Kuznets curve (KC) is used is the 1995). This bell-shaped relationship was called en- environment, now it is called Environmental Kuznet vironmental Kuznets curve after Simon Kuznets Curve (EKC). The idea here is similar, some envi- (Kuznets, 1955) who was the first to observe a simi- ronmental elements will follow the same curve as the lar relationship between income growth and environ- development of the country is going on. mental quality. Environmental Kuznet Curve (EKC) hypothesizes One of the explanations that Grossman and Krueger that at low level of income, an increase in national (1995) give to the negative slope of the curve is income corresponds to an increased environmen- that countries that are experiencing a growth pattern tal pressure, in later stages of development, the after having reached a turning point, have adequate delinking between economic growth and environ- income to buy products that are more energy effi- mental quality leads to a better environmental quality cient and would export pollution intensive to other (Beckerman, 1992). Therefore, the most concepts countries that cannot produce them. regarding the Environmental Kuznet Curve (EKC) as In an analogous manner, developed market adopted in this study is based on the publication from economies often recouple environment and growth Grossman and Krueger (1994), where the authors through environmentally harmful subsidies to clarified that economic growth brings together an sectors such as energy and transport. This caveat increase in the pollution until a certain point where notwithstanding, developing and transitional the pollution decreases with the economic growth. economies are bound to pay a higher environ- Environmental Kuznet curve is as depicted in the mental price for economic growth than developed Figure below. economies if for no other reason because:

• Their rate of population growth is generally higher since their demographic transition is not yet complete; and • Their rate of economic growth tends to be higher because they are in a process of convergence (catching up with more advanced countries).

Panayotou (2003) also shows that a dichotomy between economies in transition and developed market economies also exists with regard to techno- logical change. While developed economies are adopting emerging technologies that contribute to the decoupling of economic growth from pres- sures on the environment and natural resources, transition economies are still catching up with the environment-intensive technologies of the past, which dominate the transport, energy industry sec- FIGURE 1: Environmental Kuznet curve tors and cause many environmental problems. Again, in the same way that developed countries can help The relationship between environmental quality and to reinforce the slow shift of consumer’s preference per capita income has attracted much attention in in transitional countries away from environment- the literature. In the early 1990s, some contempora- intensive products towards more environmental pro- neous studies found that several indices of air and tection, they can also help to accelerate their transi- water pollution first increased and then decreased as tion to new environment-friendly technologies such per capita income grows (Panayotou, 1993; Shafik,

MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 (2021) 20213 IMPACT OF WASTE RECYCLING ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND REVENUE GENERATION: CASE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS, NIGERIA as renewable energy and transport. different levels of output per capita, evolving in Ultimately however, the extent to which more effi- stable environments and having access to the same cient technologies will be adopted depends on the technology should experience convergence: the dis- relative prices of different sources of energy, types persion of their output per capita should diminish; of fuels and modes of transport, which are deter- poor countries should grow faster than rich ones’. mined by markets and governments policies. How- As such, the economic notion of convergence is ever, the hypothesis of the Environmental Kuznets closely related to the question of whether the growth curve (EKC) has received several arguments for and process for an economy with specified preferences against it. The arguments are not only based on and technology exhibits multiple steady states, or in empirical findings which may be considered to run a stochastic context, multiple invariant measures. contrary to the hypothesis, but also theoretical. The relationship between income and environmental Panayotou (1997) provided an early rationale for the quality should not be limited to the Environmental existence of an EKC thus. If there were no change Kuznet Curve, the environmental degradation in turn in the structure or technology of the economy, pure can have significant effects on economic activity growth in the scale of the economy would result in (Bruvol et al., 1999). These effects impact growth a proportional growth in pollution and other envi- through many channels among which is health status. ronmental impacts. This is called the scale effect. Health occupies a dominating role in the economic The traditional view that economic development and policy of many developing countries. This impor- environmental quality are conflicting goals reflects tance is illustrated through its weight in the Millen- the scale effect alone. Proponents of the EKC hy- nium Development Goals (MDGs). pothesis argue that at higher levels of development, The major part of international studies on this re- structural change towards information-intensive in- lation focuses on the EKC hypothesis and those dustries and services, coupled with increased envi- interested in the reverse causality are scarce. Health ronmental awareness, enforcement of environmental status remains an important channel through which regulations, better technology and higher environ- environmental degradation affects economic growth mental expenditures, result in leveling off and grad- even if it is not the only one. Once the effect of ual decline of environmental quality. the environment quality is controlled, the speed of convergence tends to increase slightly. 2.2.2 Environmental Convergence Hypothesis Economic convergence, concept introduced in eco- Environmental convergence concerns the role of ini- nomic literature by Solow (1956) has been many tial conditions in explaining long run outcomes. The times tested and improved by economists. It was basic thought underlying convergence studies can generalised in Anjum et al (2014) through the condi- be pictured thus. Suppose that one observes two tional convergence notion. Conditional convergence countries with identical preferences and technolo- implies that countries would reach their respective gies but with different initial human and physical steady states. capital stocks; convergence means that asymptoti- The best way to understand how environmental cally, the growth rates in these economies will be degradation can affect economic growth is to explain identical. Brock and Taylor (2010, p.142) describes the channels through which this occurs. In economic the underlying economics of convergence as follows: literature we can find implicitly or explicitly some of ‘The convergence property derives in the neoclas- these channels. Most of the channels met in the liter- sical model from the diminishing returns to capital. ature are the labour supply and labour productivity. Economies that have less relative capital per worker In countries below EKC income threshold, all at- (relative to their long run capital per worker) tend to tempts to boost economic growth will result in have higher rates of return and higher growth rates’. greater environmental degradation. And this will Similarly, Chow and Li (2004) describes conver- burden economic growth through health and other gence as ‘countries or regions starting from very channels creating a vicious circle. When countries

IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 (2021) MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL 20214 OKUDO, OMOJOLAIBI, AND MUBARAK MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL above the EKC income threshold try to boost their 2.2.4 Empirical Review economic growth, their environment quality will be improved and therefore they will be in a virtuous Shafik’s (1994) study was particularly influential circle. That will penalise poor countries by slowing as the results were used in the 1992 World Devel- down the speed of convergence. opment Report. Lack of clean water and lack of urban sanitation were found to decline uniformly Pollution level depends on gross domestic product with increasing income, and over time. Deforestation (GDP) composition which itself is linked to de- regressions showed no relation between income and velopment level. There is therefore a link between deforestation. River quality tended to worsen with in- environmental quality, people health and economic creasing income. Local air pollutant concentrations, activity. However, the empirical assessment of the however, had turning points between $3,000 and impact of environmental degradation on economic $4,000. Also, both municipal waste and carbon diox- performance is rare; it is dominated by microeco- ide emissions per capita increased unambiguously nomic studies and does not pay enough attention to with rising income. This result for carbon dioxide the channels of transmission. was confirmed by Krueger (1991) and has stood the test of time despite a minority of contrary findings 2.2.3 Polluon Haven Hypothesis and (Copeland & Taylor, 2004). Environmental Dumping Hypothesis Selden and Song (1994) estimated the environmental The pollution haven hypothesis, or pollution haven impacts of four emissions series: SO2, NOx, SPM, effect, is the idea that polluting industries will relo- and CO. The data were primarily from developed cate to jurisdictions with less stringent environmen- countries. The estimated turning points were all rela- tal regulations. The pollution haven hypothesis posits tively high compared to the two earlier studies. This that jurisdictions with weak environmental regula- study showed that the turning point for emissions tions, known as pollution havens will attract pollut- was likely to be higher than that for ambient con- ing industries relocating from more stringent locales. centrations. In the initial stages of economic devel- The premise is intuitive; environmental regulations opment urban and industrial development tends to raise the cost of key inputs to goods with pollution- become more concentrated in a smaller number of intensive production and reduce jurisdictions’ com- cities, which also have rising central population den- parative advantage in those goods. According to sities with the reverse happening in the later stages Becker et al (2000), the Heckscher–Ohlin model of development. So, it is possible for peak ambient provides the theoretical foundations by showing that pollution concentrations to fall as income rises even regions will export goods that use locally abundant if total national emissions are rising (Stern, 2010). factors as inputs. Empirically however, robust evi- Many studies extended on the basic environmental dence shows that industries shift production to less models by introducing additional explanatory vari- stringent jurisdictions have proven subtle. ables intended to model underlying or proximate fac- Environmental dumping hypothesis on the other tors such as political freedom (e.g. Torras & Boyce, hand is the practice of shipping waste from one coun- 1998), output structure (e.g. Panayotou, 1997), or try to another. Basically, the goal is to take the waste trade (e.g. Suri & Chapman, 1998). On the whole, to a country with less strict environmental laws. the included variables turn out to be significant at tra- Economic wise, this practice is perceived cheap as ditional significance levels (Stern, 1998). However, it allows one to bypass economic regulations of the testing different variables individually is subject to original country. An example of an attempt at en- the problem of potential omitted variables bias and vironmental dumping is the story of the decommis- there do not appear to be robust conclusions that can sioned French aircraft, the FS Clemenceau, which be drawn (Carson, 2010). The only robust conclu- was originally sold to a ship-breaking yard in Gujarat sions from literature appear to be that concentrations India to be demolished and recycled as scrap (Joseph, of pollutants may decline from middle-income levels 2006). while emissions tend to be monotonic in income.

MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 (2021) 20215 IMPACT OF WASTE RECYCLING ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND REVENUE GENERATION: CASE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS, NIGERIA At higher levels of economic development, there ous conferences organized by the United Nations En- will be a structural change in the economy, coupled vironmental Programme (UNEP) in Nigeria, which with increased environmental awareness, enforce- were geared towards controlling the effects of en- ment of environmental regulations, better technology vironmental pollution arising from poor solid waste and higher environmental expenditures. These can management system. He observes that the need to lead to a gradual decline of environmental quality. tackle the poor environmental condition in Onitsha Conversely, if there are no changes in the structure underlines the call by the United Nations on all the of technology or scale of the economy, there would member nations to devise effective waste manage- be higher forms of environmental pollution from ment strategies. economic activities. The presumed policy implication of the some of the Some types of economic structure have been em- theories reviewed as presented in the 1992 World phasized by some studies such as Ravallion et al. Development Report is that development is the best (2000), who pointed out that development processes cure for environmental problems. Ubani (2003) crit- that are essentially resource-driven will depend on icized this approach because it assumes that there how well a society manages its resources in order to is no feedback from environmental damage to eco- avoid or mitigate pollution. Panayotou et al. (1997) nomic production as income is assumed to be an investigate the role that policies and institutions play exogenous variable. The assumption is that environ- in influencing environmental quality and discovered mental damage does not reduce economic activity that better governance and policies make a momen- sufficiently to stop the growth process and that any irreversibility is not too severe to reduce the level tous improvement in environmental quality. Thus, of income in the future. In other words, there is an policies and institutions that focus on development assumption that the economy is sustainable. But, if will also affect environmental pollution. The role higher levels of economic activity are not sustain- of strengthened institutions in reducing the environ- able, attempting to grow fast in the early stages of mental impact of multinational corporations has re- development when environmental quality is rising cently been stressed in Stern (2004) that environmen- may prove counterproductive. tal hazard occurs at a decreasing rate when strong environmental policies are implemented. Both Arrow et al. (1995) and Stern and Jotzo (2010) argued that if there was an environmental degrada- The urban management of solid waste relates to tion, it might be partly or largely a result of the effects the total strategy for the collection and removal of of trade on the distribution of polluting industries. waste from the environment. For total success, the The Hecksher-Ohlin trade theory - the central theory strategy involves the cooperation of a number of of trade in modern economics - suggests that, under institutions starting with the producer of these wastes free trade, developing countries would specialize in through the agencies responsible for collection and the production of goods that are intensive in the disposal. The primary producers of solid wastes are production inputs that they are endowed with in notably the house hold and the industries. Both of relative abundance: labor and natural resources. The this represents the first level of organization in the developed countries would specialize in human capi- process of collecting, processing and disposal of tal and manufactured capital-intensive activities. Part solid waste. of the reduction in environmental quality levels in the As cited in Olaniyan and Akeredolu (2015), Oyedi- developed countries and increases in environmental ran (1997) notes that the visible feature of most urban quality in middle-income countries might reflect this centres in Nigeria today is the refuse ‘mountains’, specialization. which emit foul odours, as well as a breeding ground More recent estimates show that the emissions turn- for pathogenic agents. Also in Olaniyan and Ak- ing point is higher and therefore there should not be eredolu (2015), Ogbalu (2003) observes that solid- room for confusion on this issue. Another possible waste management problem in Onitsha has become interpretation of the income-environmental degrada- very serious. According to him, this informed vari- tion relationship is that there are no environmental

IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 (2021) MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL 20216 OKUDO, OMOJOLAIBI, AND MUBARAK MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL policies in developed countries and that only when studies based on cross sections of data found no a certain income threshold is passed, are policies in- significant effect of regulations on industry loca- troduced (Becker & Henderson, 2000). This does not tions (Ederington, Levinson & Minier, 2004). Newer actually seem to be the case. Schirnding (2002) pre- studies that use panels of data to control for unob- sented evidence that environmental improvements served heterogeneity or instrumental variables to ac- are possible in developing countries and they ar- count for simultaneity have found statistically signif- gued that peak levels of environmental quality will icant, reasonably sized effects (Becker & Henderson, be lower than in countries that developed earlier. 2000). Some developing countries have also pledged quite On this note, from the literature reviewed, the diver- ambitious climate policies (Stern & Jotzo, 2010) gent views suggest there is a lack of consensus over and China and other countries have taken extensive the relevance of the environmental Kuznet curve action to reduce emissions of air pollutants (Bruvol et and environmental convergence hypothesis to geo- al, 1999). However, the high rate of economic growth in some middle-income countries has in many cases graphic region. This study therefore aims to find out outweighed their efforts at environmental improve- the impact of recycling on environmental quality and ment. Instead of arguing that growth is the only way revenue generation in Nigeria using staff, students to reduce environmental impacts existing environ- and residents of University of Lagos as a case study. mental institutions in developing countries need to be encouraged in order to further offset the effects of 2.2.5 Waste Recycling, the University of Lagos' that growth. Experience Augustine (2007) provided an analysis of economic The unit which operates as an arm of the works de- convergence by adding human capital, represented partment of the University was established in 2014. by education level, to Solow (1956) model and they It is known as the waste, environment and agency showed that their results fit better to the predictions unit. Some of the core objectives of setting up the unit of Solow model. Stern (2004) completed this work include to ensure optimum resource utility via reuse by adding health as second human capital. All these of waste in the University and to ensure a cleaner improvements are important but not enough because environment through effective waste collection, sus- they do not take into account the role that could tainability of the environment, enlightenment of re- play some omitted variables, in particular the envi- source management via reuse process. ronmental quality which arouses a renewed interest these last years with the natural resources curse and Just with respect to the interview with Dr. Adelopo EKC hypothesis. of the unit, these objectives have been averagely Omojolaibi (2010) assessed the robustness of the achieved considering the remarks and awards re- income-emissions nexus in the case of Ghana, Nige- ceived since inception of the unit. University re- ria, and Sierra Leone with the aid of panel data ceived an award of one of the best Universities in using the fixed effect modeling. He found out that managing waste in Nigeria. Also, the unit can be the Environmental Kuznets Curve does not apply viewed successful till date considering the amount in the case of West Africa. Therefore, it is not a of waste that has been recycled by it relative to other good indicator of the income- CO2 relationship in the universities in Nigeria. region. He concluded that it is not a convincing tool Most of the activities of the unit in terms of waste that is able to explain how an economy deals with its collection and separation and dispatch has been out- environmental quality while growing. sourced to private companies who are waste man- As regards the pollution haven hypothesis, empirical agers. What the unit does is supervision of the pro- studies of the phenomenon have been hampered by cess and policy making. The major challenges faced the difficulty of measuring regulatory stringency and by the unit include low education of members of the by the fact that stringency and pollution are de- university, poor mechanization on waste sorting and termined simultaneously (Greenstone, 2002). Early collaboration from partner companies, among others.

MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 (2021) 20217 IMPACT OF WASTE RECYCLING ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND REVENUE GENERATION: CASE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS, NIGERIA On the other hand, the major strength of the unit is For example, in a four possible options statement the support from the university authority. like those of strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree Before the unit was established there was more and disagree, the following would be the relative pollution as waste were not managed. There were importance index formula. mini-dumpsites in virtually every faculty and hostels. On introduction of the unit, all mini-dumpsites were closed down and only one dumpsite is maintained Where 0 ≤ (R.I.I) ≤ 1 across the university. The unit manages its dispose bins in fours labelled blue for, red for, black for The respondent response is rated on a scale 1 – 4 and brown for. These four sets of bins are placed where; in about 206 strategic spots across the University, n1 = Number of respondents for strongly agree; making a total of 824 bins located on campus. The n2= Number of respondents for agree; unit does not recycle directly, it links up with partner companies such as Recycle points and Recycle in n3= Number of respondents disagree; Lagos state, sending the waste product to them for n4 = Number of respondents for strongly disagree; recycling. Waste are sent for recycling every week. and The unit recycles an average of 24 tons per month. = number of respondents. Though the revenue data of the unit could not be given in exact, an estimate of N180,000 to N250,000 More specifically, two models were adopted for the was given. two independent variables of environmental quality and revenue generation. This is as shown below: According to our contact person, awareness made by the unit on its activities is poor. Notwithstanding, people are aware of the bins but do not obey the la- bels on them. People are changing habits from dump- Where EQ represents environmental quality ing on the floor. Awareness is created on different RE represents recycling avenues, University of Lagos’ radio and orientation of new intakes, among others. More importantly, PD represents proximity of disposal spots the unit has impacted on the social and University’s IC represents income of members of the community reuse of materials; the monthly 24 tons of waste EL represents Education level could have been another waste on the dumpsites. The a-priori expectations of the variables are RE > 0, PD > 0, IC > 0 and EL > 0. 3 METHODOLOGY

The Relative Importance Index (RII) was used to Where REV represents revenue generated understand the trend of responses concerning the impact of recycling on environmental quality and RE represents recycling revenue generation, using University of Lagos as WR represents how often waste is recycled a case study. Relative importance index was used ST represents how sophisticated is the technology or to determine the causes, effects and remedies of machine used environmental quality. The questions were converted to Relative importance index (R.I.I) for each factors, The a-priori expectations of the variables here are RE which is made possible to cross compare the relative > 0, WR > 0 and ST > 0. importance of each of the questions and statements Questionnaires will be administered to both resi- as perceived by the respondent. The Relative impor- dents, students and staff of the University of Lagos tance index (R.I.I.) was formulated using the follow- using both structured and unstructured set of ques- ing statistical expression (Lim & Alum, 1995). tions to obtain relevant information. Descriptive and

IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 (2021) MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL 20218 OKUDO, OMOJOLAIBI, AND MUBARAK MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL inferential statistical tools will be used to analyze the obtain accurate and reliable data and also because it data for adequacy, accuracy and easy comprehension offered an opportunity to probe further and clarified of the research work using simple frequency, per- ambiguity faced by the respondents. centages, tables, charts and graphs. For effective coverage and lower cost, a stratified random sampling technique was used to select the 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS respondents. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select a total of 300 persons that con- Considering the two main objectives of this research stituted our sample size cutting across 180 students, work, investigating the impact of recycling on envi- 60 staff and 60 residents of the University of Lagos. ronmental quality in University of Lagos and investi- The sample size is determined by three factors, the gating the impact of recycling on revenue generation level of certainty that the characteristics of the data in University of Lagos, this section presents the result collected represents the population, the margin of of our findings. error that can be tolerated and the type of analysis to The following are the analysis of the responses from be performed. The final sample size is often a matter the questionnaire administered (See Appendix 1: of judgment as of calculation due to the constraints Questionnaire 1). above. Table 1 shows that of the sample collected, about The data collected is processed using IBM SPSS 71% of the respondents are male which was as a Statistics 20. Data analysis is done through the use result of the inability of the females to be easily of a descriptive statistics of simple percentages of assessed and convinced to fill in their responses to response and frequency counts. IBM SPSS Statistics the questionnaire. 20 was religiously used for the statistical analysis. Coding of variables in quantitative research is very Table 2 shows that about 62% of the sample collected critical for better interpretation of results. The ques- are single. This is because the sample was skewed to tions and responses were coded and entered in the students, undergraduate and graduate students who computer using Microsoft Excel software. Required were perceived to be used to the school’s environ- analysis was done with the aid of IBM SPSS Statis- ment. tics 20. Certain econometric methods were applied From Table 3, it can be seen that the age was dispers- on the data to get the results which were analyzed. edly distributed, though dominated by the age range The data required for this work are sourced from both of 21-30 years of age which formed about 61% of primary and secondary data. Primary data was ob- the sample taken. This is because the sample is more tained using the instrument of questionnaires for the skewed to the students’ class; that is, the youths. residents, staff and students of University of Lagos. Table 4 shows that about 69% of the sample are Direct observations and structured interviews were students, while the staff and residents formed about also used to gather information from respondents. 31% of the population. Primary data were sought because of the need for From Table 5 5 above, most of the students in the current data to address the research objectives and sample are postgraduate students taking programme also for the reason that the methodology was known. at postgraduate diploma, Masters or Doctorate de- Secondary data were obtained from staff and an offi- gree. cial of the recycling unit of the University of Lagos. The research instruments used to collect primary Table 6 shows that majority of the staff, students data were personally conducted interviews using an and residents of the university are learned, with only interview guide of well-structured questionnaire on about 21% having no formal education. the impact of recycling on environmental quality Table 7 shows that on the average, the monthly and revenue generation in University of Lagos. The income of the sample size is N150,000 as income interviews were conducted as a result of the need to level up to N300,000 formed 77% of the sample.

MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 (2021) 20219 TABLE 1: Responses to, `Sex'

TABLE 2: Responses to, `Marital Status'

TABLE 3: Responses to, `Age'

Table 4: Responses to, `Status in the school environment'

Table 5: Responses to, `Programme of study by students'

IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 (2021) MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL 20220 OKUDO, OMOJOLAIBI, AND MUBARAK MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL

Table 6: Responses to, `Educaonal Level'

Table 7: Responses to, `Average Monthly Income'

Table 8: Responses to, `Solid waste is a breeding ground for disease vectors'

From Table 8, it can be deduced that it is well be better cautious and informed about the essence believed that waste is a breeding ground for diseases of a better-quality environment which would also which could affect the environmental quality. As increase its revenue. much as 83% of the sample selected has this percep- The responses in the Table 11 shows that many are tion. Therefore, we can rightly justify this point. informed of the effect of poor waste management in From the Table 9 it can also be concluded that it is the environment. perceived that, if waste is properly managed, many From the Table 12, it can be seen that a significant diseases can be prevented in the environment. number of the member of the university belief that Just as earlier said by Dr. Adelopo at the interview disposal spots are in proximity and easily assessable. with him, more need to be done on the awareness This is key is the recycling process and revenue of recycling importance in the university. About generated there from. 44% of the sample opined that the school is not From the Table 13, it can be seen that only a meagre doing so well in the area of awareness on recycling 5% of the sample selected believes solid waste has importance in the university. If this is properly done, no effect. Therefore, more should be done by the the members of the university environment would university and economies at large to ensure a better

MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 (2021) 20221 Table 9: Responses to, ‘Many diseases can be prevented if waste are properly administered and managed’

Table 10: Responses to, `UNILAG is doing enough on recycling awareness and educaon'

Table 11: Responses to, `I am aware of the eﬀect of poor waste management'

Table 12: Responses to, `Waste disposal spots in the University are easily assessable and in proximity'

IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 (2021) MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL 20222 OKUDO, OMOJOLAIBI, AND MUBARAK MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL Table 13: Responses to, `What is your perceived eﬀect of solid waste?

environmental quality which would in turn serve as mental quality. This is because as earlier reviewed in a source of revenue. literature, recycling is important in ensuring a good In conclusion, the descriptive analysis shows that environment. From the analysis carried out, it was the University recycling unit has helped to provide discovered that education level has a negative impact a better environmental quality through the provision on environmental quality. This could be due to the of waste disposal spots as opposed to dumping refuse busy schedules one is faced the higher you grow in odd locations across the University prior to the in academics. The analysis shows that at a higher establishment of this unit. Though, the University education level, there is a tendency for people to should do more in its awareness about recycling be carefree about tidying up the environment. This to enhance the environmental quality and boost the could be perceived from the fact that such educated revenue generated by this unit. persons could perceive the duty of ensuring a cleaner Just according to the resource person at the re- environment as the responsibility of another unit in cycling unit, the unit generates a monthly income the university. of N200,000 on the average at present. If more is Also, it was discovered that income of the people has done on awareness, the members of the community no impact on environmental quality. This is because would be more compliant and more revenue would the variable, IC, is not significant in the model. More be generated. In this light, recycling helps to enhance critically, this implies that no matter the wealth or environmental quality and generate revenue for the wretchedness of a person, it has no part to play University. in ensuring a cleaner environment. Generally, the In furtherance of our analysis, the following section model is good to fit to the tune of 85.4% which is gives the econometric exposition of this research the R-squared as shown in the table. work. Notwithstanding, the objective of finding out the Alongside the descriptive analysis presented in the impact of recycling on environmental quality could section above, this section provides the econometric be concluded from this model. It is discovered that analysis of the findings. IBM SPSS Statistics 20 soft- recycling has a positive and significant impact on ware was used in the analysis of the 224 successful questionnaires received. The result of the two models environmental quality. adopted are as shown Table 14: As regards the second model, model 2 in Table 14, As shown inTable 14 , recycling, proximity of dis- it was discovered that only recycling and how often posal spots and education level are significant in waste is recycled have significant impact on revenue ensuring a good environmental quality in the case generated. Here, just as stated in the a-priori, it was study area. It was discovered that recycling and discovered that recycling and how often waste is proximity of disposal spots are significant at 1% and recycled has a positive impact on revenue generated 10% respectively. More importantly, just as stated from recycling. Also, the variables recycling and in the a-priori expectations, recycling and proximity how often waste is recycled are significant at 1% and of disposal spots have a positive impact on environ- 5% respectively.

MANUSCRIPT CENTRAL IJCRR 12 (08), 20211−20227 (2021) 20223 TABLE 14: Presentation of Regression Result of the Models

It was also discovered that how sophisticated the (2008), this empirical enquiry concludes that income technology used is has no significant impact on the of individuals does not have significant impact on revenue generated. This could be due to the fact that environmental quality. Though, as against (Oyeniyi, recycling is a recent development in this part of the 2011), this research work found out that sophisti- world and there is less exposure to advanced tech- cated technology has no impact on revenue gen- nologies on recycling. Notwithstanding, the model is erated. More importantly, the descriptive analysis good to fit to the tune of 73.9% as shown in the table. shows that public awareness on the importance of Technically, it can be concluded from the second recycling is key in the recycling process. Worth model that recycling positively impacts on revenue noting is the fact that, this research work shows generated in an establishment or an economy. that two other factors causes statistically significant Just as found out here that income of the people variations environmental quality. The two factors has no significant impact on environmental quality, are proximity of disposal spots and education level. Adedibu (2008) also found a similar result from Also, it found out that how often waste is recycled his survey of a local government. Furthermore, as has significant impact on revenue generated from regards the significant impact of recycling on envi- recycling. ronmental degradation and revenue generation, this Having found out that awareness is lacking on the work is in consonance with Brock and Taylor (2010) part of the university management; it is important and Akinbode (2002), among others. that this is looked into so that there would be a better Contrariwise, this work negates the findings of improvement on environmental quality and would Oyeniyi (2011) on the importance of sophisticated increase the source of revenue. Also, the university technology on revenue generation. This could be management should increase the number of disposal as a result of coverage within a university system bin spots on campus so that the recycling process can perceived to be the best university as far as recycling be well enhanced. process is concerned. Furthermore, recycling, despite being at it early stage in Nigeria, was found out by this research work to be key in ensuring a better environmental qual- 5 CONCLUSION AND POLICY ity and increased revenue generation. Poor coun- RECOMMENDATION tries like Nigeria should not postpone attending to environmental concerns in the hope that the envi- The research work concludes that recycling has a ronment will improve with increased incomes and significant impact on environmental degradation and avoid poverty trap due to environment degradation. revenue generation. Also, just according to Adedibu Policy makers in these countries should take into

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