Author: The Nation

Despite being the major centre for economic activities in Nigeria and generating the large amount of industrial and residential waste estimated at over 9000 metric tons daily, Lagos State has remained relatively clean.

Thanks to the efforts of the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), the state has been rated as one of the cleanest in the country and internationally, though a controversial survey by an international agency stated that it is the dirtiest globally recently.

LAWMA was established in 1977 and since its inception the institution has employed different initiatives in ensuring proper waste management within Lagos State and it environ.

According to the Managing Director of the agency, Mr. Ola Oresanya, “the LAWMA of the past is different from now and all efforts are been made especially with the present administration of Governor Raji Babatunde Fashola to ensure success in combating the menace of poor waste disposal in the state”.

In a bid to ensure attainment to the proposed Africa Model mega city and a cleaner environment, LAWMA signed the approval of joint work with the private sectors in March 2007 called the ‘private Sectors Participation’ and a host of others to allow for proper waste management.”

In compliance with the aim of providing efficient and sustainable waste management service to all Lagosians, the management has equally embarked on its latest strategy of combating menace of waste in Lagos state called the “Recycling bank”.

The essence of strategy as explained by the agency is to bring a sense of collective responsibility to the heart of waste management in the state, making it a productive and participatory venture between the government and the people where all the school children and other identified stakeholders can help in waste minimization.

To keep our environment cleaner by avoiding the waste becoming uncontainable and spilling into our houses, industries, forests, and water sources, there is need to curtail some measures which lead to the process of recycling. Recycling involves using used products as raw materials for making new products. It saves on raw materials and prevents harm to the environment. This will help LAWMA as part of its efforts in strengthening the current waste collection activities and expand the scope to facilitate additional value added waste recycler market.

More so, recycling has been confirmed as ideal means of economic development as it contributes to the economy by helping to conserve our resources and save money, creates jobs and even generates revenue. It is equally cheaper to make products using recycled materials. For example, using fresh aluminum costs twice as much as using recycled aluminum. This is because a lot more energy (i.e. 90% more) is needed to extract aluminum from its raw forms and subsequently, products that are made from recycled materials can also be purchased at a cheaper price.

For instance the compost fertilizer produced from the Ikorodu landfill is sold at cheaper prices than chemical fertilizer. It also benefits the economy by reducing expenditure, as more items are reduced, the amount of waste that needs to go to the landfill or incinerator is also reduce

Subsequently, acres of landfill space can be saved and be diverted for other uses. Especially in Lagos state where land is scarce, saving on landfill space could mean savings by the million, and in fact earnings, especially if the land can be used for other revenue-generating functions. With recycling, everything can be used to its maximum potential. Nothing is wasted. Such cost-effective practices not only saves money, but the environment and our resources too.

The benefit of recycling is far more than we can imagine, as in the case of the market waste which has been turned into fertilizer and now serving variety of purpose especially in agricultural fields. Over 250 bags of fertilizer are produced from LAWMA recycling plant on a daily basis and distributed across the country. Equally, pure water nylons with other nylon have been procured into a disposable bag through recycling activities.

With this in mind, the institution has provided for four basic banks in form of materials in the following categories: Paper, Can, Glass and Plastic. Over twenty of these recycling banks have been made available to the entire state and deposited at different areas within the state to encourage waste sorting. About 30 former waste scavengers have been engaged as resource managers to see to the daily management of these recycling banks.

Hence, residents of housing estates are required to embrace recycling by sorting waste from trash and keeping recyclable materials in separate containers/ bags to be disposed of appropriately at the LAWMA Recycling Bank. For instance, a person disposing glass bottles and plastic bottles should endeavour to separate them in different containers and dump them in their respective banks as against disposing them together. By separating the waste from source, it makes the process of recycling easier.

Citizens are therefore encouraged to dispose their waste bin in these sorted banks as this will allow for easy recycling and also help LAWMA in carrying out its duty effectively as before. The institution will also reward as many people who sort out their waste by reducing their waste bill per month.