This study was carried out to assess the microbial, physicochemical and heavy metal
characteristics of soil samples from five different waste collection sites within the University of Benin, Benin City
and evaluated using standard analytical and classical microbiological methods. The heavy metal concentration
includes Zn (4.45±0.00 - 5.76±0.02 mg g
−l); Cd (1.59±0.00 - 2.54±0.00 mg g
−l); and Fe (1.02±0.02 - 1.07±0.00 mg
g
−l). The physicochemical properties include pH (4.91±0.01 - 5.82±0.04); TOC (6.49±0.01 - 7.65±0.02 %); NO
2−
(29.32±0.07 - 32.81±0.11 mg g
−l); and SO
42− (47.30±0.12 - 63.25±0.04 mg g
−l). The mean of culturable heterotrophic
and coliform bacteria ranged from 4.03×10
7 ± 0.35 - 4.51×10
8 ± 0.12 CFU/g and 1.02×10
4 ± 0.12 - 3.10×10
5 ± 0.02
CFU/g respectively. At
p-value < 0.01 level EC significantly correlates total heterotrophic bacteria (
r= 0.971);
coliform bacteria significantly correlate NO
3
− (
r= 0.989); while clay significantly but negatively correlates coliform
bacteria (
r= -0.989). Some of the bacteria isolated and identified from the waste collection sites include
Klebsiella oxytoca
,
Enterobacter aerogenes
,
Staphylococcus aureus
,
Pseudomonas putida
, and
Bacillus macerans
. Findings
from this study reveal that the municipal solid waste on the collection sites has impacts on the indicator variables of
the resident soil as well as serving as breeding sites for pathogenic organisms.
