The Lagos Waste Management Authority says the state will generate up to $2.5 billion annually from the circular economy when adequately harnessed.

The managing director and chief executive officer of LAWMA, Muyiwa Gbadegesin, disclosed this in Lagos.

A circular economy is an economic system based on the reuse and regeneration of materials or products, especially as a means of continuing production in a sustainable or environmentally friendly way.

Mr Gbadegesin said the authority was looking at an annual economic value of $2.5 billion from a circular economy when harnessed.

He said the initiative would need much advocacy and public sensitisation to achieve the desired result.

He said the era of linear waste collection models was over; hence, there was a need to apply circular economy in waste management.

“We were used to applying the linear model of waste collection. Here, waste is collected, taken to a landfill, and then buried. Now, we are introducing the circular economy. All of that waste buried before now has value.

“Circular economy is a major initiative because we are talking about a radical transformation of the current system of transporting 13,000 tonnes of waste per day to a point.

“Ten thousand tonnes of that waste can be pushed into other uses in a circular economy,” Mr Gbadegesin said.

He stressed the importance of sorting waste at the source to achieve the requirements of a circular economy.

“Ninety per cent of our waste still has value if sorted. We must begin to sort at the source, which will require a lot of education and advocacy.

“We must be able to collect the sorted waste through community recycling centres, where people within that area can bring recyclable materials like PET bottles, papers, metal and even food waste, which off-takers will receive in exchange for incentives.

“The circular economy drive is a major undertaking. We are not doing this in isolation. We are working with sister agencies. We are so busy pushing this initiative that we do not have enough time to tell the stories of what we are doing,” he said. 

(NAN)