Environment group wants governments to address indiscriminate waste disposal

 The Green Janitors Sustainable Initiative (GJSI) has urged the Federal, State and Local Governments to address the indiscriminate waste disposal in parts of the country.

GJSI’s Executive Director, Mr Abdul-Salam Ashade, made the appeal in a statement on Thursday in Lagos.

According to him, human activity is one of the issues that should be addressed when it comes to climate change because it is something that we can control.

“When you look at the Greenhouse gases released by burning fossil fuels, they don’t just get released by themselves, it’s done by humans.

“Take a look at the flooding, it does not just occur; people dispose waste indiscriminately on the streets and it’s blown away by wind into our drainage system and results to flooding.

“These and many more are human activities that are causing climate change.

“We are urging governments, from the grassroots to the Federal levels, to come out with different methods to check these indiscriminate waste disposals by the people,” he said.

Ashade stated that the group evacuated refuse in 12 different locations in Lagos and Oyo States including Osun on Sept. 18, when marking the 2021 World Clean-Up Day.

“The locations are: Badagry, LASU-Ojo, Oshodi, Bariga, Ikorodu, Lagos Island, Oto-Awori, Iba, Yaba, Ijanikin in Lagos State.

“Others are Ibadan, Oyo State, and Ile-Ife, in Osun.

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“There was a massive impact for us at Green Janitors, as we were able to increase our locations to 12, compared to the two locations we observed in 2020.

“The initiative was able to implement our Pick the Plastic Project at two of the locations; Badagry and LASU-Ojo, where we rewarded people with incentives for submitting their plastics.

“We were able to reduce plastics pollution that might have clogged our drainage systems, by generating 4,557kg of plastics.

“We also recorded 2,307 volunteers during the exercise at the 12 locations,” he said.

Ashade noted that the footprints of the initiative were registered on the environment through clearing the blocked drains, to reduce flooding.

The Volunteers of Green Janitors in a group photograph during the 2021 World Clean-Up Day in Bariga.

Ashade said the group used the exercise to sensitise the public, particularly the market women, to how they could be environmentally responsible citizens for sustainability.

The executive director described human activity as one of the issues that should be addressed when it came to climate change, because it could be controlled.

“Many thanks to our partners, Food and Beverages Recycling Alliance and Geocycle, for supporting the initiative in making our environment clean.

“We equally thank the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA), JaniRak Recyclers Global, Lagos Youth Ambassadors, Let’s Do It Nigeria, JCI and other organisations, for making the day a reality,” he said.

Ashade also commended all the team leaders in all the locations.

“We say a big thank you to all our passionate volunteers and Green Ambassadors, you all are wonderful, let’s keep sustaining the environment,” he said. (NAN)