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Introduction
The wide-reaching problem of environmental pollution and a global concern over its potential to influence the health of human populations are well documented (Rosenstock, 2003; Progressive Insurance, 2005; Schell et al. , 2006; Fereidoun et al. , 2007; Kimani, 2007; Khan and Ghouri, 2011). In simple term, environmental pollution is the presence of one or more contaminable substances in the environment resulting from gaseous, liquid or solid wastes or by-products that are detrimental or tends to be detrimental to human health or welfare. It can be in different classes or types: land, water, air and noise. It is indisputable that environmental pollution is rooted in both human activity and natural forces (Fereidoun et al. , 2007). Also, it is an established fact that environmental pollution is tangled with unsustainable anthropogenic activities, resulting in substantial public health problems, especially in the built environment.
Various human activities have created polluting effects in the built environment. These activities are the various sources of pollution. They include industrial activities, traffic and domestic wastes. Nevertheless, despite the fact that all these sources of environmental pollution are anthropogenic in nature, domestic waste generation, unlike other sources, is inevitable for every human being. According to Gilpin (1996), the concept of waste embraces all unwanted and unusable by-products or residuals at any given place and time, and any other matter that may be discarded accidentally or otherwise into the environment. These wastes include solid waste, wastewater, human excreta and also corpses and carcasses. The inevitability of the generation of these wastes and their varying disposal methods in different places make man an agent of pollution both in life and death.
The manner of waste disposal into the environment is a determinant of the sanitary condition of the environment (Heller, 1999; Howard, 2003; Mohammed, 2011; Mohapatra, 2013; Vasanta and Priyasauni, 2013). Therefore, excreta and wastewater disposal, solid waste disposal and disposal of the dead (man and animals) are recognised as integral components of environmental sanitation, especially by some African countries (Government of Ghana, 2010; Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), 2005; Republic of Sudan, 2010). Environmental sanitation is a prominent issue in both the developed and developing nations and it has been discussed by various authors in different times and climes (Adedibu et...