By Joseph Chibueze
When in August 1999, the new government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos State launched the waste to wealth programme, it was obviously in response to the terrible state of the environment in the state as at the time. That singular action earned the government a lot of commendations and it was seen then as a government with foresight.
But like most other government programmes before it, there was no further action beyond the official launch. Nigeria is a country noted for initiating beautiful policies that also go with very nice slogans. Remember operation feed the nation, green revolution, school-to-land, operation sweep and many others? Unfortunately most of these programmes in spite of their nice slogans and acceptance by the generality of the people, never achieved their objectives.
The reason is simple: There is just no political will on the part of government to implement them, while on the other hand, some greedy individuals within government circles saw the programmes as opportunity to enrich themselves. At the end of the day, the programmes remain on the drawing board, but the money budgeted for them have been spent.
That was probably the fate that befell Lagos State Government’s waste-to-wealth programme. It has been in the limbo until recently when the present administration decided to dust up the file and give life to the project by empowering the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (Lawma), the body charged with the responsibility of waste management in the state.
Though the government of Babatunde Fashola made environmental cleanness a top priority on assumption of office in 2007, his efforts appeared not to be yielding the desired result as the volume of waste kept increasing by the day. The landfill sites were over flowing necessitating the creation of new ones. For how long will that continue knowing that land is a scarce commodity in the state?
So it was time to look for a solution, a solution that will not only help the state maintain a clean environment and a healthy citizenry, but also save the landfills and create wealth. Mrs. Tolu Adeyo, recycling manager, Olusosu Recycling Plant in an interview said “we could not afford to continue to land fill those waste while there are recyclable materials in there. That is why we are looking at the issue of recycling so that it will prolong the land fills and ensure environmental sustainability. So as much as possible we try to reduce what goes into our land fills.”
Lagos State generates over 10,000 metric tonnes of waste daily. In time past virtually every street had a refuse dump rising as high as a storey building, producing offensive odors and obstructing traffic and in some cases causing flooding as it blocks the drains.
A challenge it was, a serious one for that matter, but that which was a problem is about to become a gold mine, a money spinner for not only the state government but also for the citizens.
The project
The State’s Waste To-Wealth programme is an integrated waste management system that involves recycling of solid waste into various new products including clean energy.
The project which is being executed by the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (Lawma) in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) and the African Carbon Asset Development (ACAD) is expected to capture methane gas from waste and use it to generate electricity. The project apart from preventing the release of greenhouse gases which endanger the environment, will also create jobs and provide infrastructure through public-private partnership (PPP) among others.
It is a huge leap for wealth creation and environmental health in Lagos State, as the authorities move from traditional landfill disposal to modes of waste management that are economically rewarding and socially responsible.
Mr. Ola Oresanya, managing director of Lawma in an interview said the project is essentially a private sector driven initiative. According to him, “The reason for this is obvious, if it must be sustainable it has to be in the hands of the private sector while government only play the role of a regulator. In fact as we speak, this project has been concessioned to a private outfit to execute for 20 years. The government did that to ensure sustainability. So it is a Public-Private Partnership.”
He explained that the objectives of the project are to fully harness and utilise alternative options available in managing waste, thus reducing reliance on landfill disposal as well as minimise the emission of greenhouse gases, while managing waste in an environmentally sound, socially responsible and financially sustainable manner.
“We want to harness a new line of economic activities for interested parties within and outside Lagos. We have developed gas wells to manage and recycle municipal solid waste into clean energy. Landfill gas can be generated 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
“The gas is extracted from landfills using a series of wells and a blower or vacuum system. This system directs the collected gas to a central point where it can be processed and treated depending on the ultimate use for it,” he said.
The project holds strong possibilities for job creation, reduction in urban poverty, wealth redistribution and small business enterprise development. Globally, megalitres of raw sewage that would otherwise be pumped into the ocean, and tonnes of organic waste that would normally go into landfills, are being converted into electricity, fertiliser and clean water.
The waste to wealth programme according to Oresanya, also include nylon buyback programme, recycling banks, recycling plant at the Olusosun recycling centre; collection of PET bottles, aluminium cans, cardboard, cullet and other materials; and compost facility in Ikorodu in collaboration with Messrs Earthcare.
Others are the establishment of the recycling village for waste to wealth; engagement in school advocacy programme; waste paper collection; attracting investors for recycling, tyre and waste to energy projects among others.
According to Adeyo, there are different types of recyclables, nylon, metal, paper, plastics, bottles, pet bottles and so on. “But right now Lawma recycles plastics. We have a nylon recycling plant located at Olusosun our land fill site. We also have a composting plant in Ikorodu which is producing organic manure. What we are doing as a government is not to go into the business of recycling, but to show that it is possible, here lawma serves as a waste brokerage, we serve as a stock exchange. Government is supposed to be a regulatory body, but we need to jump start the process so that people will see that it is possible.
A new culture
For Adeyo, the whole idea of waste sorting and recycling is a new culture which must be imbibed by the people. “That is why we are doing a lot of education. The recycling banks are there to raise the curiosity of the people and get them asking questions and eventually they will get the right answers and that will help them to begin to imbibe that habit of separating the waste right from their homes.
“The level of compliance is still quite low and we need to do a lot of education and that is why we need to work with the private sector. Yes we are getting response from companies but it is still at a low level yet because not everybody knows that we have these things. That is why we are intensifying our efforts to create awareness and education. The issue of separating waste is a culture that needs to be inculcated and until people start seeing the value in it they will not imbibe it. So we will keep working and educating our people. From the responses we are receiving from our radio and television programmes where people are calling to say so they can actually make money from sorting waste, and they are asking how they can do it better, it is obvious that the message is making an impact. It is a waste to wealth thing, it is an alternative source of income. And we want our people to see it from that angle, in the long run, they will also discover that their environment is becoming cleaner and they are living healthier,” she said.
Wealth for all
One good thing about the waste to wealth programme is that it has opened up a new business line, the selling of recyclable materials. Moving through Lagos streets these days one sees bundles of satchets water packs which hitherto liter the streets obstructing flow of water in the drains, neatly packed ready for sale to waste merchants. Same goes for pet bottles, waste paper, old cartons, old office files and of course metals of different types.
“What we have done is to put value on those supposedly waste materials by buying it from the public. We have jingles on the radio and television to sensitise people and let them know that there is a market for their pure water sachets. All we want is to get the people sort their waste right from their homes,” said Adeyo.
She added that being a new idea, it would be difficult to get the people to comply if they cannot see any value they can derive from sorting those waste. “You can’t just go from household to household, you can talk from now to eternity people will still not do it, but when you have value that is attached to it, they would by themselves start cooperating with you and that is why that recycling banks are out there to help change the mind set of the people. When people see the banks, they would ask questions and that way they would begin to comply.
“To be honest with you, recycling is a profitable business, if it is not profitable you won’t find people there and it would not be promoted the way it has been in other parts of the world. A lot of companies are now looking inwards because they want to reduce their over heads. Recycling will help to reduce the operating cost for most companies and a lot of companies are looking that direction now. In fact if you go to our land fill site you won’t find metals there because as they are coming people are there waiting to buy them.
“One of the areas we are focusing on this year is tyre recycling. We are working to ensure that after the shelf life of the tyres they don’t end up in the land fills and you know that it remains there, over time it will start releasing some gas that pollute the environment,” Adeyo said.
For Mrs. Tolu Adegbite, a recycling officer at the Olusosun Recycling Plant, “People are actually responding, just a few days ago, an old woman came here with her bundle of satchet water packs for us to buy, even though we have stopped buying satchet water packs for now because our warehouse is over flowing with them, we just couldn’t refuse her. We bought them from her. Another thing we have done is we have rebranded scavengers, they are now called Resource Managers. We did that because we want to give them a more honourable outlook, that way more people would freely join and earn a living from supplying us recyclable materials. It is all part of the job creation part of the programme.”
New business opportunity
A visit to the Olusosun landfill site on a typical day, will present the picture of a busy market place with hundreds of scavengers dutifully turning every piece of refuse dropped on the site. It is a case of the faster you are, the more you get. The business is mostly dominated by people from the northern part of the country with a few southerners who in most cases serve as middlemen, buying from the scavengers and reselling to merchants or companies.
Umar Kabila who came all the way from Katsina State is one of the resource managers. Kabila, a secondary school leaver whose aspiration is to do a National Certificate in Education (NCE) programme in a College of Education had to go into scavenging to raise the money he needs to finance his education. He said he has been in the business for four years. “I want to go to college of education. I finished secondary school in 2004, I tried to do NCE but I don’t have the money, so I decided to come here and hustle. If I get enough money I will go back to school. I have saved up to over N100,000. It would have been more than that but you know I have to assist my parents. We are more than 20 children in my family,” he explained.
Kabila said that metal gives more gain than nylon and plastics. He also reveals that because of the competitive nature of the business, customers deposit money with the suppliers pending the time the materials are available.
On the volume of materials one can pick in a day, Kabila said it could be as high as two tonnes a week or even more depending on how hardworking one is. “But that is no longer the case, the volume has been drastically reduced because many people have joined. I think that is because they have seen that there is a lot of money to be made picking scraps,” he said.
Apart from the scavengers, there are also others who are at the site providing support services like the food vendors, recharge card sellers, loaders and the carriers. Mustapha Abubakar is one of the carriers. He said he makes about N4000 a day carrying the scraps for those who bought them to their vehicles. But then he does not work every day because their work have been scheduled in such a way that every body gets a chance to work. They have a union.
Government also generates revenue from the business activities at the landfill. For instance, scavengers pay a daily rate of N70, sellers pay N100 weekly while buyers also pay N200 to government each time they were at the site to transact business.
From all indication this waste-to-wealth project is of inestimable value especially in a society where unemployment is at its highest peak and families are finding it difficult to feed and where there is severe environmental degradation and frightening trends in the climatic system. Turning waste into energy is a proven technology that has the potential to provide a significant amount of domestic energy needs, while reducing the nation’s over-dependence on landfill and also solving the perennial problem of erratic power supply.
It is instructive to know that this sustainable system environmental management through waste to wealth is catching the attention of other states in the federation. Ondo State has already introduced the system with the slogan: Pure water satchet = Cash. Plateau State is also thinking along that line but according to the state commissioner for environment, Mrs. Sarah Yusuf, the state is still trying to set up a central dump site.
Price list
Item Price per kg
PET bottles N20
White paper N20
Colour paper N10
Nylon bag N20
Metals N15
Shoe soles N30
Aluminum cans N75
Jerry cans N14
Satchet water packs N30
Clothes N10 or N20
Bottles N10 (each)
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