PLASTIC POLLUTION MANAGEMENT: A PANACEA FOR NIGERIA’S UNTAPPED WASTE TO WEALTH GROWTH; A STUDY OF SOME SELECTED URBAN CITIES IN SOUTH EAST NIGERIA-ENUGU, OWERRI, AWKA AND UMUAHIA

The study investigated on the plastic pollution management: A panacea for Nigerias untapped waste to wealth growth: A study of some selected urban cities in south east Nigeria Enugu, Owerri, Awka and Umuahia. The specific objectives include to: examine the extent management of plastic waste have aided employment generation in some urban areas in South East, Nigeria, Nigeria determine the extent value chain network of plastic management has aided wealth creation in some urban areas in South East, Nigeria. The study adopted a cross sectional survey. The study instrument includes Garbage picking kits, health hazard prevention materials, waste selector machines, questionnaire, video coverage and security kits to help the research attendants for easy identification. Procedure: The study identified various dump sites across the cities mentioned. Out of a population of 6,454 staff, the sample size of 1096 was chosen after applying the Freund and Williams formula for the determination of adequate sample size. Out of the sample size of 912 returned the questionnaire and accurately filled. That gave 83 percent response rate. The validity of the instrument was tested using content analysis and the result was good. The reliability was tested using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r). It gave a reliability co-efficient of 0.85  which was also good. Data was presented and analyzed by mean score (3.0 and above agreed while below 3.0 disagreed) and standard deviation using Sprint Likert Scale. The hypotheses were analyzed using Z- test statistics tool. The findings of the reveals that management of plastic waste has positive effect on employment generation in some urban areas in South East, Nigeria r (85, n = 1096) = 24.471, p < 0.05 value chain network of plastic management had positive effect on wealth creation in some urban areas in South East, Nigeria r (85, n = 1096) = 46.882, p < 0.05. The study concluded that in order for solid waste management and plastic production systems to coevolved towards maximizing recycling as a strategy for plastic waste management. The study recommended among others, that there is a need to formulate and enforce a plastic bag regulation primarily to do away with the menace and to guide any such endeavors.