The Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has announced its plan to commence prosecution of households without waste bins in the state from October 1, 2022.
This was disclosed by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of LAWMA, Ibrahim Adejuwon Odumboni on Friday in Lagos during the third anniversary of the Lagos Recycling Initiative (LRI).
He urged residents to start waste segregation at the point of generation, to reduce the volume of waste going to the landfills.
He appreciated the governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for modifying and supporting the recycling initiative, while also praising all the stakeholders partnering with the Authority to tackle 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 added “Start separating your waste from source, there is value in doing that. We are encouraging the sorting of waste from sources in all households. From October 1, 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.”
In her remarks, the Executive Secretary of Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA), Ms. Agharese Onaghise, restated the group’s commitment to the collaborative partnership to achieve a plastic-pollution-free Lagos State.
