The Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has assured residents that current waste collection challenges across the state will ease within six to eight months. The Managing Director of LAWMA, Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin, gave the assurance during the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in Badagry on Saturday. Gbadegesin dismissed claims that local governments were taking over LAWMA’s waste management responsibilities through independent collection initiatives.
The local governments are partners. They are assisting the Lagos Waste Management Authority in various ways,” he said. He said councils were acquiring two compactor trucks each, while the Lagos State Government was procuring additional trucks.
According to him, the additional equipment will strengthen waste collection and improve service delivery across the state. Gbadegesin attributed collection delays to Lagos’ growing population and increasing waste generation. He said the state was expanding waste management infrastructure to address the challenge.
“Lagos State Government has begun the process of building new disposal facilities,” he said. He disclosed that work was ongoing at Olusosun, while transfer loading stations and material recovery facilities were under construction. He said Badagry would also host a major material recovery facility for recycling and resource recovery.
It is a material recovery facility that will allow us to treat waste safely and extract valuable components for revenue generation,” he said. Gbadegesin blamed recent operational disruptions on flooding around the Olusosun dumpsite. He said heavy rainfall had made the access road difficult for refuse trucks.
“That will become a thing of the past by Tuesday when we reopen another section for trucks to dump waste,” he said. Gbadegesin said only 30 to 40 per cent of Private Sector Participant (PSP) operators were affected. “Many of them are going to satellite sites in Epe, Ikorodu and Badagry.
Summary from source