Urbanisation comes with its numerous challenges. An increase in household income often leads to the increase in the amount of disposable income. While this may result in an increase in the amount of goods consumed, it also increases waste generated.
The World Bank report (2012) shows that 1.3 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) per annum are generated globally. The report further stated that Sub-Saharan Africa generates 62 million tonnes of waste annually (5% of global waste), of which 53% is solid waste. It is projected that by 2025, Sub-Saharan Africa will produce 441,840 tonnes per day of municipal solid waste.
Lagos state has an estimated population of 21 million, with an annual growth of about 6-8% and produces about 10,000 metric tons per day, i.e. 0.5kg per person per day of waste. This waste is composed of 45% vegetable material, 15% plastic, 10% paper, 5% glass, 5% metals, 4% putrescibles, and 4% textile. Metal, glass, textile and plastic make up the solid waste (non-degradable component of the waste).
Soda and water producing organisations have gradually migrated to the use of Pet bottles (bottles made from plastic) with increased demand for the product. This is considered to be more profitable with an increase in commuter consumption of soda and water, further fuelled by an increase in the number of hot days and discomfort associated with irregular electricity supply.
It is worthy of note that several approaches have been adopted by previous and the present government to manage waste in Lagos State. While some have proven to be successful, others seem not to have achieved the desired goals. Such initiatives includes the introduction of street sweepers, refuse storage cans, refused collectors with the use of modern waste collection vehicles, recycling plants and the mass awareness campaign.
The Lagos State government adopted the 3Rs strategies which are; reduce, reuse and recycle in its bid to solving the challenges of waste management in the state. It introduced the waste to wealth initiative, which brought the conversion of organic waste to humus and fertiliser for agricultural processes, building of the plastic recycling plant in Olusosun site and increased its waste management budget from 2.5% in 2005 to 15% of the total recurrent expenditure in 2013. The activities of scavengers have also encouraged the management programme of recycling. Despite all of these proactive steps, there has been a continued increase in the number of plastic bottles and sackets on the streets which constitutes a serious environmental health problem. The drainage system, canals and lagoons are filled up with these materials and if no action is taken, the potential for a flood incident is inevitable.
The World Bank in 2014 argued that waste production increases with an increase in development activities and urbanisation. Therefore, if societies have to reduce waste production, processes leading to development and urbanisation will have to be altered. The “reduce” component of the 3R strategy which is directed at reducing waste production at source, have not achieved much of its goals. This could be attributed to the increase in industrial activities leading to increase in waste production.
Recycling on the other hand is a multimillion dollar business. Belikiss Adebiyi CEO of Wecyclers (a recycling firm) projects recycling will create up to or more than 500,000 jobs. The Lagos state government has also encouraged recycling through the building of recycling plants and with its efforts to encourage innovative ideas and businesses focused on waste management in its bid to address the challenges of solid waste management. Some organisations such as the Wecyclers have taken the initiative in Lagos to be at the forefront of recycling in partnership with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA). Some of these recycled products are used for making cab stone, interlocking blocks, bricks and other fashion products. Currently the metal industry in Nigeria with some plants in Edo, Delta and Lagos States is depending largely on the metal products obtained from most dump sites. These industries were designed to operate on 80% Iron Ore and 20% scrap. However, most of them depend on 100% scrap which has increased the revenue generation from recycling. Despites all of the measures taken by the government, solid waste management, especially plastic product continues to pose major challenges.
Internationally, with the drive for eco-friendly products and the green initiative by multilateral organisations such as the United Nations, there is a change in the materials used in the packaging of soda and water which constitute a bulk of the non-degradable waste in Lagos State. The world is tilting towards the use of biodegradable plastic materials compared with most developing countries like Nigeria that still use non-degradable plastic materials. These biodegradable plastics includes; aliphatic polyesters (which are biodegradable due to their potentially hydrolysable ester bonds), naturally produced polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) like the poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), polyhydroxyvalerate (PHV) and polyhydroxyhexanoate (PHH). Renewable resources like polylactic acid (PLA). Synthetic such as polybutylene succinate (PBS), polycaprolactone (PCL), polyanhydrides, polyvinyl alcohol, starch derivatives, cellulose esters like cellulose acetate and nitrocellulose and their derivatives (celluloid), polyethylene terephthalate and enhanced biodegradable plastic with additives. These new products can be degraded and completely metabolized within a space of 24 months by microorganism, into less harmful products like carbon dioxide and water.
Lagos state government policies on the production of plastic product for commercial use should be redirected to make these organisations involved in the production of this plastic product make a shift to the use of biodegradable plastic product.
Waste management problems are not peculiar to Lagos; however, measures taken to deal with these problems are what separate well managed cities from poorly managed ones. Enacting policies that encourage the use of biodegradable products will not only ensure safe environmental practice, but will also ensure that organisations involved in the production of these products do take responsibility for safety of Lagosian.
Chimankpam W. Uzoma
