World Cleanup Day: LAWMA harps on cleaner environment

Managing director, Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Muyiwa Gbadegesin has urged residents to align with the agency other environmental related bodies to clean up Lagos as the state joined the rest of the world to mark this year’ s world cleanup Day on Saturday.

According to Gbadegesin, this year’s event provides the opportunity for people to have a rethink on how they treat their environment, considering the negative implication of improper waste disposal.

He said“the world cleanup Day is a global social action program aimed at combating the global solid waste problem and this is good a platform to remind the people of the negative consequences of indiscriminate waste dumping, which affects not only the environment, but the people that live in it.”

Gbadegesin noted that in line with the recent executive order on traffic and sanitation issued by the government, the LAW MA was intensifying efforts to clear black spots across the state, especially along the Lagos Badagry Expressway – Lasu/okomaiko axis, with the overall aim of achieving zero waste policy and making the environment livable.

He said further that: “We are stepping up our operations to rid the state of black spots. Our aim is to establish cleaner and livable environment across the state. you will recall that the agency has rolled out various programmes like “Lagos at 4am” and the “Blue Box” initiative, to promote recycling and waste sorting at source”.

The LAWMA boss further stated that efforts were ongoing to rehabilitate landfills in the state, to ensure that the roads leading to the sites were motorable all year round, to improve the turnaround time of waste evacuation trucks.

“Our landfills are undergoing rehabilitation to improve the turnaround time for waste evacuation, while the PSP operators are being supported to step up domestic waste collection”, he stated.

And to curb indiscriminate dumping on the road median, Gbadegesin said the agency was also intensifying enforcement against all forms of improper waste disposal in the metropolis, with a clampdown on cart-pushers who engage in in discriminate dumping on road medians, setbacks, canals and other unauthorised locations.

Gbadegesin appealed to residents to shun all forms of improper waste disposal methods, which could trigger flooding as the rains persist, adding that people should bag their waste appropriately and patronise only assigned PSP operators.

He commended all corporate organisations, volunteers, NGOS and recyclers partnering with LAWMA to clean up Lagos.