Following the attention received by a 50-year-old dumpsite in Ethiopia after a deadly landslide killed about 114 persons, the dumpsite would now be put to good use with a new waste-to-energy plant, Reppie, which is underway. Garbage dump that claimed so many lives in Ethiopia. Just Like Nigeria, Ethiopia over the years have been grappling with waste management.
The country, however, seems to have found a solution with a waste-to-energy plant, the first of its kind in Africa and it is expected to deal with 1,400 wastes daily, a figure gotten from about 80% of refuse generated daily in Addis Ababa alone, (the capital of the nation).
Solid waste generation, per capita in Addis Ababa amounts 0.4kg/c/day compare to Lagos 4.7mt per day according to information on the Lagos state’s 2017 budget paper. The waste plant is expected to deal with 1,400 tons of waste daily, which figure comes up to about 80% of refuse generated by Addis Ababa this will help supply the capital with 30% household electricity needs whiles conforming to global standards on air emissions.
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Nigeria produces over 32 million tones annually, a problem which Oyelayo Adekiya an environment expert believes if managed can be an asset. She estimated waste generated per person a day is 0.43 kilogrammes, with a high organic and biodegraded content of 60 to 80 per cent, and collection and disposal at landfill site are mostly not engineered.
Building the energy plant came as a result of a partnership between the Government of Ethiopia and a consortium of international companies; Cambridge Industries limited, China National Electric Engineering and Ramboll (a Danish Engineering firm). The consortium was established to design, construct and in some case own energy-to-waste facilities customized for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Project Reppie is considered a quadruple win as it not only saves land, it also generates electricity while preventing the release of toxic materials into groundwater and it also reduces the release of Methane (a greenhouse gas generated in landfills) into the atmosphere. Waste-to-energy uses trash as a fuel for generating power, just as other power plants use coal, oil, or natural gas. The burning fuel heats water into steam that drives a turbine to create electricity. The process according to the Ethiopian Government can reduce a community’s landfill volume by up to 90 percent, and prevent one ton of carbon dioxide released for every ton of waste burned.
