Don advocates legal framework on recycling of plastic waste

A don, Professor Babajide Alo, has called for the imposition of more taxes on packages made of plastic materials as a way of discouraging plastic waste which has become an environmental menace.

Prof Alo, a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of University of Lagos, said it is high time Nigeria in place a state policy institutionalizing recycling of used plastics.

He spoke at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos during the event marking the 2018 World Environmental Day organized by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in collaboration with the Nigerian Environmental Society (NES). Alo, who was the put guest speaker at the occasion, advocated for a reduction in usage of plastic materials which, he also noted, contained cancerous elements following exposure to excessive sunlight.

“Also, tax breaks and other financial incentives should be instituted for manufacturing concerns that have successively substituted plastics with biodegradable utilities,” he said.

“Recycling of plastics should be instituted as a policy backed by laws rather than the existing resort to goodwill of the people to recycle,” he said.

The Managing Director of FAAN, Engr. Saleh Dunoma, said though airports do not produce plastic products, they provide avenues for the installation of plastic products in form of facilities as well as sale of items packed in plastic containers.