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Lagos State Government has come up with new strategy to manage solid wastes generated in the state.

Explaining the emerging waste management reform tagged “Cleaner Lagos Initiative”, the Commissioner of Environment, Dr. Samuel Adejare said it would make Lagos one of the cleanest cities in the world as residents would have a streamlined refuse collection method.

Earlier he disclosed some of the teething challenges that have frustrated the hitherto model listed some of them to include “regular waste collection hindered by a vicious cycle between clients and operators as poor collection service delivery leads to irregular and poor payments; bin placement, transfer loading stations, and other supporting infrastructure have been ignored and undue attention placed on waste collection only; LAWMA in its role as regulator is overwhelmed by the responsibilities of having to coordinate the activities of 350 individual companies and still carry out its own collection services; the billing system is unduly complicated due to the differences and inconsistencies in charges and collection routes therefore leaving the billing system open to manipulation and fraud; and many individual operators have failed to fulfil their obligations on the trucks”.

However, he said government has studied the entire situation and came up with the CLI which he said “Apart from the transformation of the existing Transfer Loading Station (TLS) and the introduction of no less that 25 Material Revolving Facilities (MRF) where wastes will be sorted, 600 new compactor vehicles would be acquired, and waste dumpsites would be closed and replaced with engineered sanitary landfill sites”.

 “The PSP and LAWMA partnership was quite effective, but it is no longer applicable, considering the fact that the population of Lagos has increased several folds (and still increasing) coupled with increasing wave of technology in the state despite the fact that the over 300 compactors in use are obsolete and in a state of dis-use. Wastes should not bring us hardship and shame, but rather, we should make money from it. Emphasis would be on zero-dumping, recycling and generation of power from wastes.”

The Environment Commissioner stated that government would carry out a recertification of all the 350 PSP operators, relicense them and audit the state of their compactors.

“Each compactor would be tracked, the state would be divided into zones and compactors allocated to different zones with a control room where every compactor would be monitored, “Adejare said.

He noted that five new power stations with one in each division in the state would be built to generate power from wastes, with a promise that the numerous dumpsites dotting parts of the state would soon be a thing of the past.

“We will close down Olusosun and Solus (dumpsites) sometime next year. Dumpsites are dangerous to health and the environment. The leachate and gas to be recovered from the proposed sanitary landfills would be put to good use.

“We plan to regenerate Olusosun and turn it into a park, where intercity buses would end their journey and would no longer be allowed to enter into the city. Passengers would from here now take taxis and intra-city buses to their destinations in town.

“Also, we would have about 25,000 community sanitation workers who would be engaged mostly as street sweepers. They would be well kitted with decent uniforms, gloves, boots, pickers, brushes, carts as well as mobile phones with which to communicate with the control centre. And they would be well paid.

“Every sanitation worker would reside in the Ward they operate from, for convenience and to curb high cost of transport to work. They would be well trained and given an attractive welfare package. In all, we hope to generate a total of 46,000 new jobs.

“A law is in the offing to support the Cleaner Lagos Initiative. It would allow big-time players in the waste management sector to do business with us. Lagosians would be required to pay a Public Utility Levy (PUL), which is not a tax but something similar to what is currently being paid to PSP operators. Part of the PUL goes into an Environment Trust Fund. The competitive initiative would consume the cart pushers out of existence.”

The state government is considering sites in Badagry, Epe and Ikorodu for the about five sanitary landfills being proposed.

The Commissioner noted that Lagos State is increasingly becoming dirty, which is a return to its former status as the dirtiest city in the world, according to the UN report.

According to him, “This is evident on its streets and roads, as well as the existing waste management tactic – waste dumping. To reverse this trend, it is important that the state government brings in experts that would redirect the methods and strategy using the latest machinery to address waste maintenance challenges in the state”.