Assessment of Heavy Metals Contamination of Surface Dust from Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment at Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun State in Southwestern Nigeria

Lukman Popoola Akinyemi,John Abidemi Laoye,Rasaki Kolawole Odunaike,Adetoro Temitope Talabi,Mary Feranmi Obasan

doi:10.37284/eajenr.5.1.546

Lukman Popoola Akinyemi, John Abidemi Laoye + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.37284/eajenr.5.1.546

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Abstract

In developing countries, electronic waste is a subject of concern in the environmental challenge due to the import of electronics that are not useful from developed countries. The developed country exports the waste as a source of donation to the developing country but the majority of those electronics are waste that contains toxic metals which are harmful to human health. This research work assessed electronic dumpsite to detect the concentrations of heavy metals present in the soil and around the dumpsites. Three dumpsites were considered in the Odogbolu Local government area of Ogun State where the soil samples in the sites were tested to know the concentration of heavy metals present which constitutes an environmental hazard to both human beings and the ecosystem. This was compared with a control that was taken from an electronic waste free site. The atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS) was used for the analysis and the heavy metals analysed were Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu), Chromium (Cr), Zinc (Zn), Nickel (Ni), Lead (Pb), Cobalt (Co), Iron (Fe) and Arsenic (As). Our findings show that zinc and iron exist in the soil at high concentrations. When the data compared with WHO’s standard confirmed that Zinc, Iron, and lead are of higher concentration in the samples. However, zinc intake beyond the permissible limits produces toxic effects in the immune system, iron causes nausea and stomach pain while lead causes physical disorders.

Highlights

Electronic wastes are commonly known as electronic waste (E-waste) and are generated from disposed electrical appliances inclusive of but not limited to computers, office electronic equipment/accessories, entertainment devices, mobile phones, television sets and refrigerators (Olafisoye et al, 2013)
Odogbolu is domiciled in Ogun State, the South-west geopolitical zone of Nigeria, with a population of 127,123 at the 2006 census and a total area of 541 km2
The results for the examination of heavy metal present in the soil collected at a dumpsite in Odogbolu local government area of Ogun state were depicted in Table 4 in comparison with World Health Organization (WHO, 2011) standards

Summary

Introduction

Electronic wastes are commonly known as E-waste and are generated from disposed electrical appliances inclusive of but not limited to computers, office electronic equipment/accessories, entertainment devices, mobile phones, television sets and refrigerators (Olafisoye et al, 2013). Atiemo et al (2012) reported that the rate of production of electronic devices is the fastestgrowing sector of the manufacturing industries in the industrialised countries. Newer versions of electronic gadgets and equipment are used to replace obsolete electronic equipment in developed countries and these are creating a major E-waste problem. Uncontrolled disposal has caused various problems such as contamination of groundwater, surface soil, and pollution of the atmosphere due to immediate discharge or surface runoff (Olafisoye et al, 2013). The harmful effect of technological development of electronic industry, especially computer technology, is revealed in the form of polluted drinking water, waste discharges that cause harm to fish, birth defects, high rate of miscarriage and cancer among cluster workers (Zheng et al, 2013)

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