Improper collection and disposal method as well as other challenges are limiting the growth of waste-to-wealth initiative and recycling industry said to be worth over $250 million, BusinessDay survey reveals.
Nigeria is said to be one of the highest producer of solid waste, but its management has always been a persisting problem. Available statistics show that the country generates more than 32 million tons of solid waste annually out of which only about 30 percent is collected and properly disposed of.
From Kano to Aba; Abuja to Lagos and to Ibadan, the story is the same of how mounting heaps of solid wastes dumped indiscriminately at various corners and improper collection/disposal pose health and environmental challenges in these cities.
The challenges, according to experts, have persisted because the country as a whole has not properly embraced recycling method, which is the global best practice for waste collection and disposal with capacity to turn the waste so collected into wealth.
Disposal of wastes in these cities remains a big issue and, according to Abdullahi Muazu Gwarzo, managing director of Refuse Management and Sanitation Board (REMSAB), the board is, at the moment, sourcing for interested investors that can turn the waste being generated within Kano metropolis into wealth.
Rowland Nwakanma, deputy general manager, Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA), Aba and Environs, regrets that waste, which is supposed to be a revenue generation item, is being wasted because there is no recycling plant in the state. According to Nwakanma, a recycling plant would have helped to turn the wastes into wealth.
“There are lots of benefits to derive from having a recycling plant. We generate enough waste, which could be turned into fertilizer or for power generation; waste plastics, nylon and metals could also be recycled, thereby reducing wastes on our environment,” he says.
Ola Oresanya, former managing director of Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), agrees, adding, however that, to efficiently manage municipal waste, there is a need to encourage policy that embraces sorting.
He explains that waste sorting is a process by which waste is separated into different elements. This, he says, can occur manually at the household level and collected through curb-side collection schemes, or automatically separated in materials recovery facilities or mechanical biological treatment systems.
According to Oresanya, wastes exist as liquid, solid rubbish, organic waste, recyclable rubbish and hazardous waste, arguing that, these, if properly segregated, allows for easy collection and shapes disposal patterns.
He adds that sorting will enable recycling, which is a multi-billion naira business anywhere in the world, believing this is where the opportunity lies for public-private partnership in waste management.
It is believed that, to effectively address the problem of waste in Nigerian cities, government and the people must begin to look at recycling as a business. This is because once the citizens begin to see the money value of waste, indiscriminate dumping will reduce, as they will want to make money out of their waste.
Wale Adebiyi, managing director, WeCyclers, which is into recycling, says the plastic waste that litters the streets of Lagos presents a viable opportunity.
He says out of the estimated 15,000 tons of waste that Lagos generates daily, roughly 30 percent is recyclable, and 50 percent of this is plastic. “What this translates into is that about 2,250 tons of plastic wastes are generated in Lagos daily, which can be recycled. Annually, therefore, there is about 821,250 tons (almost 1 million tons) that can be recycled,” he notes.
Adebiyi reasons that, at $500 per ton, if only 500,000 tons of plastic can be recycled annually, it will potentially be a $250 million industry. “This figure will increase significantly when other parts of Nigeria are factored in. The waste industry, therefore, can comfortably employ thousands of unemployed youths, many of whom roam the streets idle in search of jobs.”
In Lagos, Nigeria’s sprawling commercial hub with an estimated population of 21 million people, the daily waste generation is estimated at 15,000 metric tons. But waste disposal in the city poses a serious challenge.
Daily, heaps of wastes are seen in open and hidden corners of the streets, as residents seem to have formed the habit of indiscriminately dumping their waste in the absence of a well-defined management/disposal system that could touch every part of the mega city.
Over the years, efforts at reversing this trend have yielded little results. Various initiatives by successive administrations in the state, especially since the return to democratic rule in 1999, have seemed like a scratch on the surface.
Similarly, in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), indiscriminate waste disposal has been a major environmental challenge. It is common to see heaps of waste on the streets, markets, waterways, highways, residential apartments, and undeveloped plots of land which have been turned to waste dumps.
Francis Agbarakwe, head of waste disposal unit at Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), estimates waste generated from the Abuja municipal area council on a daily basis at 700 metric tons.
Out of the six area councils in the FCT, only the Abuja municipal area council has an efficient waste disposal system managed largely by Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), forcing residents to adopt other waste disposal techniques such as open burning or burying while other households just allow the waste to litter.
Ibadan, a Nigerian city that boasts of many ‘firsts’ even in Africa, is today mired by dirt and heaps of refuse along the highways, inner-city roads and streets while stench oozing out from heaps of refuse at the median of roads and drainage is not only offensive but dangerous to the health of residents.
Though several attempts have been made like dividing the Ibadan city and its environs into 11 local government areas to shoulder the responsibility of collecting, transporting and disposing of municipal solid wastes while involving the private sector in residential solid waste management back in 1985, the challenges remain.
The perennial flooding in the city from the 90s up to last month has been wreaking havoc in the city, leading to loss of lives and properties. This flooding has been attributed largely to indiscriminate dumping of refuse, which blocks waterways and drains.
Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State, is one of the cities in Nigeria that has heavy domestic waste output because of its commercial nature. The city has four big markets and many entrepreneurial clusters.
The Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA), an agency of government responsible for management of waste in the state, says Asa Road alone, generates 120 tons of domestic waste daily, adding that Ngwa Road, which hosts Ahia Ohuru (New Market) and a section of the garment cluster, generates about 80 tons daily.
The ancient city of Kano in the Northern part of Nigeria with an estimated population of 15 million also generates a high volume of waste put at 96,000 metric tons daily by the Refuse Management and Sanitation Board (REMSAB), an agency of the state government in charge of waste collection.
