With less than 3 weeks to go, the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has again, reiterated its commitment to enforce the use of waste bins by Lagosians from October 1, 2022.
Ibrahim Odumboni, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of LAWMA, disclosed this directive during the third anniversary of the Lagos Recycling Initiative (LRI).
Last week, the Agency had planned to begin the enforcement of the use of waste bins by Lagos households from January 2023 without households risking a fine or imprisonment.
Odumboni reiterated that every household in Lagos must have a waste bin by October 1 or risk prosecution. He added that by May 2023, the value of plastics per kilogramme would rise to #250.
Similarly, the Executive Director of Finance, LAWMA, Mr Adekunle Adebiyi, in his welcome address, said that Lagos, as a whole, generated an estimated volume of 13,000 metric tonnes of waste daily, adding that the daily influx of people from other states resulted in a high volume of waste generation with plastics accounting for about 17 per cent.
“Indiscriminate and incessant littering of the environment with plastics have resulted in blockage of waterways and drainages, which sometimes result in flooding, destroying properties and affecting lives. Most times, plastic waste ends up in the ocean, polluting it, threatening ecosystems, killing biodiversity, and poisoning the food chain.
“If this trend continues, life and livelihood would be in jeopardy and all the dumpsites will run out of space in less than five years’ time. Hence, the need to create value from waste through reuse, reduction, and recycling so that we can decrease the volume of waste that goes to the dump site. In the recent time, the narrative is changing and moving from straight line economy to circular economy where waste is seen as a resource in line with global practice,” Odebiyi said.
In his goodwill message, Dr Femi Idowu-Adegoke, the President of the Lagos Recyclers Association, affirmed that the Lagos Recycling Initiative has experienced huge growth, noting that waste sorting protects water bodies and inhabitants and helped to reduce carbon footprint.
He then congratulated the Lagos State Government and LAWMA for taking recycling in the state seriously, which he said was in tandem with global best practices.
