There are only a few socio-political subjects that conveniently touch on half of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Waste management and recycling would take prominence amongst this list given the new global direction for a greener society, and the pursuance of the goals of good health, and wellbeing using climate action.
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization defines waste as “material left over after products have been made by producers and after they have been used by consumers”.
Deborah Olujobi is the creative director of Faidez Wears. She employs only recycled materials in the production of hand weaved knitwear products that are bought locally and sold internationally to her clients.
“As a knitwear fashion designer, my passion is to make fashionable knitwear from recycled plastic bottles to provide a solution to environmental pollution and position the fashion industry as a channel for ecological growth as the industry is the 2nd most polluting industry globally. I work every day to see how plastic bottles in Nigeria can be recycled to make yarns for knitwear,” she says.
For Lagos, the biggest metropolitan center in Nigeria, resurrecting the idle dead weight of the bye product of consumption, production, and distribution of waste materials would require just more than having a waste management policy – the city itself sits on a pile of rubbish and so residents are not unaccustomed to the presence, decomposition and eventual reek of waste that is produced from the buzzing economic activities.
The World Bank in a report titled “What a waste: A global review of solid waste management says that Nigeria produces 62 million tonnes of waste in a year.”
In its 2018 edition of the report, the World Bank also says that solid waste generation in Nigeria rose to 34.6 million tonnes and has also projected that the country would produce 54.8 million tonnes of solid waste in 2030, and 107 million tonnes in 2050.
The absence of credible official data for the rate of waste generation capacity for Lagos state notwithstanding, it is overly estimated that “an estimated 13,000 metric tonnes of municipal waste is generated every day”.
The current monumental waste generation capacity of Lagos state is enough to generate wealth that can be converted into another internal generation avenue for the state.
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Revenue can be generated from recyclables. These recyclables include materials like “plastic, bottles, cellophane, wrapper bread, paper, wrapper popcorn, bags drip hospital, bags poly soft, cotton materials, rubber, cables, wrappers” to mention a few. There are also other bigger waste materials like batteries, unusable electronics –phones cellular, radio sets, computers – electronics and metal scrap.
The fact that these materials are re-usable easily posits that they can be conveniently translated into the right products and tools.
Nevertheless, there are costs for waste recycling. This has been stated to include things mainly related to “collecting, sorting, storing, transporting and treating waste”.
Lagos has about four landfill sites that employ thousands of workers. Thousands of sanitation officers under the payroll of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) take strategic places to collect waste. The private sector has been present with financial services collaborating with the government to provide tools and implements.
The case of Sterling bank is visible. The bank has partnered with the LAWMA and has provided thousands of vests for sanitation workers.
The restriction of cart pushers as far back as 2007 on the promulgated law banning informal waste collectors seems to be self-destructive.
The state currently groans under an ineffective waste collection strategy. There have been cases of residents complaining of the unavailability of Private Sector Participants (PSP) waste operators for several weeks resulting in a heap of refuse conspicuously around residential and commercial areas. This poses a key risk to public health.
With the rainy season approaching, the uncontrolled waste disposal and management system leave a key risk that drainages will be blocked and flooding could result.
Proper sensitization is required to ensure that the waste collection system is geared towards the recycling system that the state has shown so much passion for in recent years.
In 2018, the World Bank says that each person in Lagos generates 0.5 kilograms of solid waste a day and only 10 percent of the city’s waste was collected.
Analysts have estimated that this figure has in fact risen to 0.6 kilograms since that report was published.
Dr. Gbenga Adebola, a sustainable waste, environmental, and renewable energy expert says that “Sustained public enlightenment/engagement and total enforcement is key to sustainability. Government and enforcement authorities should do more for the sake of our environment and the coming generation.”
Waste recycling has also been touted as the key to wealth creation.
During a recent workshop for women held at Agege recently, Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mrs. Oluyemi Kalesanwo, mentioned that “Lagos State, with a high population, generates 13,000 metric tonnes of municipal wastes daily, thereby making the Lagos State Waste Management Authority to dispose of about 7,000 tonnes of solid waste a day, across four landfill sites in the state.
“The call for action is necessary to groom a generation that is equipped with the tasks to imbibe positive changes for generating less waste by creating reusable consumables, recycling of waste as well as processing valuable resources derived from waste products.”
The Chief Resilience Officer in the Lagos State Resilience Office, Dr. Folayinka Dania also says that “Circular economy is about reducing waste to the barest minimum. Lagos State currently generates about 13,0000 metric tonnes of waste per day and what we are propagating is how to ensure we turn this around in ways that are good for the climate, good for health, and good for the people.
What we are trying to do is to put in place structures that ensure that we reduce our waste to the barest minimum.”
The Lagos state government should invest in technology as this will help increase the capacity for the regulation of generation, collection, and recycling of waste.
