In a bid to ensure a healthy environment that is free from pollution, Promasidor Nigeria has affirmed that there is crucial need for business compliance to environmental regulations within areas of operation.
Olivier Thiry, managing director of the company, said “the food company will not relent in adhering to environmental regulations as stipulated by government at federal and state levels.”
Thiry said in pursuit of a greener environment, the company had before now, installed equipments that were eco-friendly in its premises and this had eliminated health risk to people in its locality.
“This was as a result of the giant strides it made to ensure compliance with the state environmental regulations and standards, thereby contributing to carbon reduction in the environment through mitigated measures against global warming and climate change,” Thiry said.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State government and LASEPA have expressed their gratitude to Promasidor for not only believing in an eco-friendly environment but also living it.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, through a representative during one of the tree planting campaigns, said Promasidor’s gas generators, wind powered extractor fans, and solar energy street lights are worthy of emulation by other organisations.
Corroborating the Lagos State government, Adebola Rasheed Shabi, general Manager and Chief Executive Officer, LASEPA, reiterated that sustaining the sanctity of the environment through commitment to tree planting must be a collective responsibility.
He said as the lung is very essential for good quality and healthy lives so are trees essential for the sustenance of healthy environment. On the environmental benefits of tree planting, Shabi said they can reduce air temperature by blocking sunlight and lead to the conversion of water to air vapour, a chemical process that removes heat energy from the air.
According to him, the evaporation from a single tree can produce the cooling effect of 10 room size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day; can improve the efficiency of your heat pump by shading it with a tree; and can shade hard surface areas such as driveways, patios, building and sidewalks thus minimising landscape heat load.
He stated that tree planting exercise fostered by Promasidor has preserved the environment to a large extent as the evergreen trees can be used to reduce wind speed and thus loss of heat from homes in the dry season by as much as 10 to 50 percent; can reduce soil temperature and soil moisture loss; can store pounds of carbon each year; help settle out and trap dust, pollen and smoke from the air; absorb carbon dioxide and potentially harmful gasses, such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, from the air and release oxygen.
He said trees help settle out and trap dust, pollen and smoke from the air. The dust level in the air can be as much as 75 percent lower on the sheltered side of the tree compared to the windward side.
Andrew Enahoro, head Legal and Public Relations, Promasidor Nigeria, made this assertion during an interview in Lagos where he stated that Promasidor has been keeping to regulations on healthy environment, and that it is very essential for businesses to adhere to environmental laws in order to thrive and also for the benefit of people living within that locality.
The company stated that it is a better approach because waste ending up in landfills produces leachate and landfill biogas that contaminates the water people drink and the air they breathe in. Biogas contains mainly methane, a greenhouse gas that is 25 percent more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2).
It further affirmed that the management of waste through the sorting process shows how much it has the interest of people within its locality at heart.
Also, the use of eco-friendly air-conditioners in place of conventional ones that are very noisy has reduced the noise that would have been generated from these equipments. The units are designed and manufactured with materials that are safe for the environment.
Enahoro stated that in order to achieve a healthy environment that is free from pollution, there is need for collaboration between organisations and government on ways of making the society safe for living despite the threat of global warming.
He said Promasidor’s efforts in keeping its environment free from pollution and other health hazards has endeared the company to its host community in Isolo where it operates.
They can help reduce surface water runoff from storms, thus decreasing soil erosion and the accumulation of sediments in streams. They increase ground water recharge and reduce the number of potentially harmful chemicals transported to our streams.
TIAMIYU ADIO
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