Abattoir wastes generation, management and the environment: a case of Minna, North Central Nigeria

Abstract

An investigative survey approach was used to evaluate the abattoir waste generation and management in Minna, North Central Nigeria. This was investigated using questionnaire and personal communication. Water samples were taken from water sources in the abattoir and were assessed for physico-chemical analysis. From the survey, it was observed that a total of 289 and 382 cows and goats respectively are slaughtered daily in Minna abattoirs. This generates 3.92ton of blood, 2.9ton of intestinal content, 4.2ton of bone and 2.2ton tissues as abattoir waste daily. All the abattoirs visited use nearby streams and ponds as means of discharging these wastes slurry thereby giving rise to offensive odour, contribute to the organic and nutrients loads of the streams leading to eutrophication. The action was found to be unhygienic, uneconomical and dangerous to human health. There seems to be no sufficient measures or facilities to treat abattoir wastewater for environmental safety in Minna. High microbial load in the abattoir wastewater further confirmed the need to treat this wastewater rather than discharging it to the environment. All the water samples have their physico-chemical parameters tested higher than WHO limit except samples from boreholes. This also confirmed contamination from abattoir effluents.