Ifeoluwa Mayowa MAKINDE2024-06-132024-06-132023-12M.Schttps://repository.lcu.edu.ng/handle/123456789/580Indiscriminate dumping of waste releases toxic pollutants which generate significantenvironmental pollution and hazard. This research work investigated the levels of heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and phthalate esters (PAEs) in soil andplants from Aba-Eku Municipal Dumpsite in Ibadan, Oyo State. Soil samples were collected at four locations around the dumpsite and three edible vegetables namely water leaf (Talinum triangulare), jute leaf (Corchorus olitorius) and scent leaf (Ocimum gratissimum) were randomly collected on the dumpsite. Five selected heavy metals namely Copper (Cu), Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb), Manganese (Mn), Iron (Fe), were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). Extraction and determination of PAHs and PAEs was done using USEPA 8270c and 8061A standard methods. Data obtained were subjected to descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients. Results showed that the average concentration of heavy metals observed in soil samples were 1.01, 0.03, 0.12, 0.48 and 4.31mg/kg, for Cu, Cd, Pb, Mn and Fe respectively; while the contamination factor in decreasing order ranked iron>copper>manganese> cadmium>lead. Highest accumulation of heavy metals was observed in water leaf followed by jute mallow and then scent leaf. The average concentration of PAHs in the soil samples were naphthalene 36.15 mg/kg, acenaphthylene 33.18 mg/kg, acenaphthene 8.02 mg/kg, phenanthrene 3.94 mg/kg, fluorene 3.48mg/kg, and anthracene 1.14 mg/kg. The vegetable samples in order of total accumulated PAHs ranked scent leaf > water leaf > jute mallow. The PAHs showed strong positive correlation and are significantly different from one another (p<0.05). Only dipropyl phthalate and diethylphthalate were observed in the soil samples with average concentration of 3.80 and 3.74mg/kg respectively. Scent leaf accumulated more PAEs than jute mallow while water leaf showed no tolerance to the phthalate esters. Improper waste management at the dumpsite obviously poses a pollution risk to scavengers and local population’s health. Keywords: Heavy metal, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalate esters (PAEs), Soil, Plant Word Count: 298enHeavy metalpolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)phthalate esters (PAEs)SoilPlantThesis