14th March, 2022
The Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has said the body would increase the waste bills of estates and organisations that failed to sort their waste from source beginning from April.
The Managing Director/CEO of LAWMA, Ibrahim Odumboni, who spoke at a stakeholder’s meeting on solid waste management across LCDAs in the state, held at the Surulere council secretariat, at the weekend, said waste sorting is the way to go as the landfills are overstretched.
“More than four billion plastic bottles are generated annually and it takes about 450 years for a single plastic bottle to dissolve. Therefore, I urge everyone to sort their waste at source, especially organised estates.
“The same goes for companies, shops and other businesses. Beginning from April, there will be an increment on the waste bills of estates and organizations who refuse to sort their waste at source,” he said.
He commended residents of Surulere Local Government Area, for maintaining a consistently clean environment, resulting in the choice as the cleanest local government in Lagos State, during the 2021 metropolitan competition.
Odumboni enjoined residents not to rest on their oars, in order to inspire other communities still lagging behind.
Commenting on the essence of implementing sustainable waste management practices in the council, the LAWMA boss noted that the community youths were a worthy resource that should be trained, to police vulnerable areas from indiscriminate waste disposal and black spots.
According to him, “Surulere Local Government is making a significant impact on its youths, with a lot of empowerment going on. Indeed, the sky is your starting point. LAWMA is an advocate of youth empowerment, we are ready to help you train them on waste policing. Let them man areas where cart pushing business is thriving and get them arrested for violating environmental laws of the land.”
The chairman of the council, Sulaimon Bamidele Yusuf, commended LAWMA’s effort, adding that the council had acquired a compactor for carting away community waste after environmental sanitation on Thursday.
In another development, LAWMA’s Executive Director, Finance, Mr. Kunle Adebiyi, had charged youths in Epe Local Government and Eredo Local Council Development Area, to be involved in waste policing, to apprehend defaulters whose activities defaced the environment.
Adebiyi, who represented LAWMA’s managing director at the stakeholders’ meetings organised respectively in Epe LGA and Eredo LCDA, observed that residents needed to do more, in the area of cooperation with the PSP operators assigned to their areas, adding that the operators had been mandated to upscale their services and deliver effectively on assigned responsibilities.