Bennett Oghifo
Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has planned to increase its solid waste evacuation from tenements and commercial facilities to approved dumpsites from 500 trips daily to 850, to enable it cope with over 12,000 metric tonnes of waste generated daily in the state.
The acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of LAWMA, Ibrahim Odumboni, stated this as one of several waste management strategies that would be adopted in the state, during his maiden press briefing yesterday.
Odumboni said LAWMA would focus on a “consistently cleaner Lagos” through decisions that would ensure sustainability, like sorting and recycling of waste close to the point of generation.
He explained that every household would be encouraged to adopt the use of waste bins and that each of the 57 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state would have two recycling points.
Once waste was recycled at these points, he said it would reduce pressure on various dump/landfill sites, and consequently lesser impact on the environment, as well as to create employment and wealth for the youths.
He welcomed more people interested in undertaking recycling, as there were only 20 recyclers in the 57 LCDAs, and urged their chairmen to provide spaces for recycling.
The authority, he said, was embarking on the use of minimum standards by its stakeholders, particularly the Private Sector Participants (PSP) in waste management that are being trained, and advised to use smaller vehicles to access inner streets.
He advised tenements to register with designated PSPs and to pay on time, as well as give feedback to the operators to enable them perform better.
