Informal recycling operations and dumping of waste materials around the recycling sites are commonplace in most developing countries. The persistence of informal recycling activities in developing countries is mainly due to lack of regulations, structures and institutionalization which encourage illegal, crude and irregular activities by the poor, disadvantaged, vulnerable and marginalized social groups who carry out waste picking for daily survival and income. The primitive recycling methods and indiscriminate disposal as well as burning of residual waste around the recycling sites in developing countries have affected soil quality and contaminated other environmental components such as water, river sediments and plants with toxic substances. Most studies have not considered all position pathways of contaminant dispersal at open waste dumping and informal recycling sites, focusing on one or two aspects. A key feature of this PhD project is a complete system approach, seeking to investigate the nature and extent of trace elements contamination at potentially contaminated sites, surrounding soils, plants and water courses around selected open waste dumping and informal recycling sites.
I developed interest in assessing the quality of the environment we live after successful completion of my MSc degree in Environmental and Earth Resources Management (2007 from Kingston University). Since then I have been providing knowledge based services in the areas of environmental studies, environmental management system, environmental audit and waste management for organizations and businesses as an accredited environmental consultant. My PhD studies is making significant impact in my career.