The Association of Waste Managers Nigeria (AWAMN) says that less than 10 per cent of waste generated in Lagos State is being recycled.

The president of the association, David Oriyomi, said this in Lagos on Friday night, during the association’s award/gala night, with the theme ”Making Circular Economy a Reality”.

“Currently, less than 10 per cent of waste generated in Lagos state is being recycled; through genuine collaboration with other stakeholders, we can accelerate the rate of recycling,” he said.

He said that looking to the future, “Waste cannot continue to be buried in the dumpsites, due to the effects this method could have in future”.

According to him, there is a need to make the concept of a circular economy a reality.

“Waste is only a resource if it is properly collected and channelled towards reuse or recycling. This comes at a cost, and it must be viable as a business for it to be sustainable.

“We need to invest in the appropriate infrastructure, and all hands must be on deck. Our priority must be to save our environment, as we are in danger of having more plastics than fish in the oceans.

“We clearly must have a rethink, and producers must take more responsibilities, and the government must continue to play its role as a regulator and a protector of the public interest,” he said.

Mr Oriyomi called on the government to invest in sanitary engineered landfills, waste-to-compost, and waste-to-energy to save the environment.

“No doubt, year 2022 has been a challenging one, especially with the hyper inflationary increase in diesel cost, exchange rate, interest rate and general overhead, which saw our operational cost increase tremendously.

“Thank God for the surviving spirit; though most of us are flaccid, we have hope for a better and brighter future,” the AWAMN president said.

In his goodwill message, the managing director, Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Ibrahim Odumboni, said that despite the downturn experienced in 2022, the waste managers had performed well.

The Ogun State Commissioner for Environment, Ola Oresanya, said the waste managers were the key to the sustainability of waste management because they were the private sector involved in the business.

(NAN)