The Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has promised to start prosecuting households in the state that do not have waste bins on October 1, 2022.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of LAWMA, who made the announcement recently in Lagos during the third anniversary of the Lagos Recycling Initiative (LRI), urged residents to begin waste segregation at the point of generation in order to reduce the volume of waste sent to landfills.
He praised Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for modifying and supporting the recycling initiative, as well as all stakeholders who are working with the Authority to combat plastic pollution in the state.
The LAWMA boss noted that with the initiative, plastic materials have become valuable commodities, for economic gains through recycling, adding that the Authority was working with a private firm to establish a bottle-to-bottle recycling facility in Lagos very soon.
Odumboni said that after the launch of the blue box bin in September 2019, a new philosophy of waste management was ushered into the state, which is gradually attracting many investors.
He said that the authority went to town with the gospel of waste separation and sorting at the source, stressing that the initiative had given birth to the Lagos Recyclers Association, which had over 100 members and created about 12,500 jobs in the waste value chain.
Odumboni stressed that owning a waste bin would become mandatory for all tenements, from October 1, 2022.
He said: “Start separating your waste from source, there is value in doing that. We are encouraging sorting of waste from source in all households. From October1, this year, every household must own a waste bin. We will start placing abatement notices on houses and will start the full enforcement in January next year.”
Earlier , the executive director, Finance, LAWMA, Mr. Kunle Adebiyi, said the event marked the beginning of another milestone in the history of waste recycling in Lagos State, stressing the agency’s commitment to ensuring a positive impact on the environment through recycling.
He urged participants to embrace the recycling culture, adding that the value chain was huge and extensive, creating business opportunities for pickers, collectors, aggregators, off-takers, as well as recyclers.
In her remarks, the executive secretary of Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA), Ms. Agharese Onaghise, restated the group’s commitment to collaborative partnership to achieve plastic-pollution free Lagos State.
Also, the Chief Executive officer of PAKAM Technology, Mr. Adeleye Odebunmi, in a presentation, unveiled the PAKAM app 2.0, an all-inclusive waste management software application that connects residents to recyclers, for prompt exchange and redemption of their recyclable items, in real-time.
He highlighted the features of the revamped app, encouraging households to key into the opportunities presented by the seamless technology, to make money and tackle waste management challenges in the state.
