By Hauwa Ali
The Managing Director, Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Ibrahim Odumbonihas hinted that Lagos will soon become the hub of recycling in West Africa as the authority has planned to set up 30 recycling centres across the state by the end of the year.
The managing director hinted of imminent establishment of a “bottle-to-bottle” recycling centre in Lagos which is expected to boost the Lagos recycling initiative to mitigate the challenge of plastic pollution.
He said that the project was initiated in partnership with a private company who would source their raw materials from the plastic waste generated across the Lagos metropolis.
TheLAWMA boss who made this known during a news conference recently, also hinted that the authority is proposing a 50 per cent increase in waste bill across board for Lagos residents to resolve some of the issues affecting Private Sector Participants(PSP) operation, especially the price of diesel, which rose by over 100 percent within the current year, adding that most of their operational vehicles run on diesel.
“One of the challenges we had was the rise in the cost of operation. We estimate by now that there are over 1,000 PSP trucks in Lagos and LAWMA has over 150 supporting trucks. Most of these trucks make use of diesel to operate, and the rise in the cost of diesel greatly affected the operations of PSPs in the state. Through the support of governor BabajideSanwo-Olu, we will be having additional subsidy for PSP operators in areas where we have such challenges,” he stated.
According to him, the agency would work with Community Development Associations (CDAs) and Community Development Committees (CDCs), as well as PSP operators, to review waste management charges in the state, in line with the present economic reality.
“The current economic reality in the country has made it necessary for price increase in waste management charges. To this effect, we will be increasing waste bills by 50 percent. We will also work with CDAs/CDCs and the PSPs, to review the charges and ensure proper implementation of the new tariff,” he said.
According to him, the cost of diesel used by PSP operators increased from N278 per litre in January to about N875, representing 300 per cent increment.
”We are in the process of having an extensive pricing review for PSP services offered to the households knowing fully well the economic reality.
”Also we are not introducing any change that will turn away consumers of our product.
”While the high cost is about 300 per cent, we are proposing 50 per cent increase across board,” Odumboni said.
The CEO said that the governor was also providing additional subsidies for fuel other than the existing subsidies given to PSPs to share.
He noted that the state was generating 13,000 metric tonnes of wastes daily, adding that the trucks were being run with diesel 100 per cent.
He appealed to Lagos residents to patronise PSP operators instead of the illegal cart pushers who dumped refuse indiscriminately on the roads
Odumboni said that the authority was considering the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to power PSP trucks to address the problem of high energy cost.
The LAWMA boss also warned that the authority would prosecute any household that did not have a bin from October 1.
“Majority of households don’t have a bin, we continue to appeal to residents to procure waste bins to containerise their waste, for temporary storage, before evacuation by assigned PSP operators. It’s important for us all to have a bin of some sort. Let us teach our kids how better to behave. It’s mandatory for you as a household to have a bin. From the 1st of October, if you don’t have a bin, you can be prosecuted,” he stated.
Odumboni also expressed his agency’s determination to evacuate waste around Lagos through creation of Transfer Loading Stations (TLS) in all the local government areas of the statefor fast and smooth evacuation of waste around the metropolis.
She affirmed that innovative strategies had been put in place to rejig the operational capability of the agency, for maximum efficiency.
While highlighting the various gains made in the area of establishing environmental sustainability and clearing backlogs of waste generated in Lagos, Odumboni noted that the authority, through the support of the state government, had completed the rehabilitation of landfills in the state, to shorten turn-around time, for refuse evacuation and disposal, by waste collection trucks across the state.
“I can confirm to you that through the support of the state government, we have rehabilitated landfills in the state, to facilitate seamless waste evacuation and disposal. PSP trucks can now dump their wastes at the landfills without any hindrance. The impact of this development will be felt in the metropolis within five to seven days,” he said.
