The high cost of living in Nigeria is making Lagosians discard waste in gutters, canals, and roadsides, contributing to environmental degradation and health concerns, in a bid to cut down on their spending.
The situation is now threatening the businesses of Private Sector Participators (PSPs) in waste management, who are already struggling with the high cost of diesel, hydraulic and engine oil, as Lagosians avoid paying for their services due to high cost of living.
A lady, who simply identified herself as Ajoke, and lives in Ilaje Bariga, stopped paying her waste bill because it increased to N1000. “What I do is burn the waste, instead of paying. The economy is unbearable.”
“The ones I cannot burn, I dispose of them by the side of the street where there are piles of dirt or in the gutters when it rains,” Ajoke said.
Also, Blessing Mahmoud, who lives at Orile, lamented the surging cost of living in the country.
“I would not be finding it difficult to feed, wash my clothes and put a roof over my head if the economy was enabling,” she said.
“When it comes to dumping my waste, I prefer to pay N300 to local cart pushers, as against N1500 I used to pay a PSP operator. Also, I have not seen the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) officials in my area for months.”
Mahmoud further said that cart pushers request a cheaper fee between (N200 to N500), compared to PSPs.
Olubunmi Ogunsanya, who lives in Ogolonto, Ikorodu, told BusinessDay that the cost of waste bills increased from N200 to N700.
“Waste trucks have reduced the rate at which they come to my area. I had to buy an extra drum because my waste bin overflows,” she said.
“When the waste bin and drum are full, I have no choice but to utilise cart pushers.”
Godswill Agodichi, a supervisor from Continental Waste Management, Lagos, said due to hardship in the economy, some residents in densely populated areas like Sari Iganmu, Ajegunle, and other slums prefer to throw their waste in drainages and roadside than pay PSP operators for collection.
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“They hardly pay for their waste bills. However, the government (LAWMA) pays bridging to the operators, who are able to cart away waste in those areas,” he said.
“About 80 percent of the floating material in the Boundary canal of Ajegunle is disposable plates made of Styrofoam.”
Agodichi further said that Styrofoam does not degrade or break down over time. He said the best way to recycle Styrofoam is to reduce usage.
On plastic bottles, Godswill said they have reduced drastically because of the demand for them by recyclers.
According to him, these cart pushers usually dispose of the waste on roadside, bushes, and lands that are not in use. They do not care about where they dispose of the waste, but the profit.
“However, some of the cart pushers discharge the waste they collect from people’s homes at LAWMA deposit sites,” he said.
“In addition, because some people do not containerise their waste, when heavy rain falls, it flushes this waste into drainages.”
He said the improper disposal of Styrofoam used to package food is a threat to the environment.
“They should be a regulation to curb the production and use of Styrofoam in Lagos,” he said.
Lucky Odume, an environmentalist called on the government to ban single-use plastics such as Styrofoam, food packs, plastic straws, plastic cutlery, and plastic bags.
“Mandate the plastic-producing companies to redesign their packaging to become 100 percent recyclable,” Odume said.
“Companies should have recyclable receptacles to encourage waste separation, distributing it across all public places, including markets, parks and religious places.”
He further said most plastic polythene terephthalate (PET) bottles are poorly recyclable, especially colour ones.
According to Odume, single-use packaging companies in Nigeria must also take responsibility for the waste they generate by directly redesigning their plastics and taking care of waste through their extended producer responsibility (EPR).
For Natalie Beinisch, co-founder, Circular Economy Innovation Partnership (CEIP), recycling and recovery are the most direct and practical steps towards implementing a circular economy in Nigeria.
“This is because the way waste is disposed of has a big impact on how it is leaked into the environment,” she said.
According to Natalie, businesses should evaluate their product design, manufacturing, distribution and end-of-life. There are environmental and economic inefficiencies, as well as new market opportunities, at each of these steps.
“Consumers should be more responsible in their product choices and the way they dispose of their waste. However, the lack of infrastructure is no excuse not to change habits,” Natalie said.
Last month, Ibrahim Odunmboni, CEO of LAWMA said the government would support waste management through the creation of Transfer Loading Stations in all the local government areas of the state in response to the rising cost of operations.
“Through the support of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, we will be having additional subsidy for PSP operators in areas where we have such challenges,” Odunmboni said.
According to Godswill, the subsidy will help operators function well, thereby reducing the cost charged to residents, and making the environment cleaner.
Odunmboni further said that the agency planned to set up 30 recycling centres across the state, by the end of the year, to boost the Lagos recycling initiative, which apart from its economic benefits, would mitigate the challenge of plastic pollution.
