The managing director, Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Muyiwa Gbadegesin, has warned residents of the state against dropping their waste on the road medians.

Mr Gbadegesin gave the warning in an interview with journalists on the sidelines of the Lagos Recyclers Association’s (LAGRA) 3rd Annual Conference and Exhibition on Friday in Lagos.

He decried the indiscriminate littering of road medians in the state with domestic waste, warning that defaulters would, henceforth, be arrested and prosecuted.

“With respect to our waste collectors, we have been placing sanctions and suspending those of them who do not clear waste on a regular basis and replacing those who clearly do not have the capacity.

“Though, LAWMA clears the waste found on the road medians on a daily basis, but now, we have teams going out and conducting arrests.

“Since last year, we have arrested more than 1000 waste defaulters in the state. We slowed down at some point because of Christmas due to the harsh economic situation.

“We do not want to be seen to be too hard on the residents, but the arrests have resumed,” Mr Gbadegesin said.

The LAWMA boss also urged residents to call its toll-free number and purchase the smart bins for better tracking of their waste.

“If you have issues with your waste, you can always reach out to LAWMA; we have toll-free numbers like 07080601020.

“If your PSP operator is not coming, all you have to do is call us and we will be able to do something about that. Do not bring your waste to the road medians.

“Now, we have also introduced these blue smart bins, which we are making available to people. It is for sale, affordable and has a payment plan.

“The smart bins have RFID tags, so if you have it in your house, we can tell when the PSP operator comes.

“So, even without you calling the toll-free line, We can tell from the office which areas are being attended to and which are not being attended to and then we can take action.

“Our goal is that every house in Lagos will have the smart bin to enable us to effectively tackle the waste management issues in the state,” the LAWMA boss said.

(NAN)