Lagos Recycle Initiative (LRI) has employed about 12,500 people within the value chain in three years, it has been learnt.
The Managing Director of Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Ibrahim Odumboni, disclosed this at an event to commemorate three years of the LRI.
He said the state had grown from the three official recyclers at inception on September 5, 2019, to 157 registered recyclers.
Odumboni said about 170 recycling centres would be established before the end of 2023.
He urged producers yet to join the clean-up of plastic pollution to key into the platforms created for same.
He said: “We started with three official recyclers in 2019, but now we have over 157 registered recyclers in three years. We’ve also created jobs for over 12,500 people in the last three years. The values of recyclables have gone up from N15 to between N150 and N170, not because of inflation, but because of understanding the value chain and the need for us to grow it.”
Other efforts in the three years, according to Odumboni, included waste to wealth teaching in schools, partnership with public and private stakeholders, among others.
He advised Lagosians to join the vision, saying it was important for all to embrace the waste sorting system to operationalise and optimise the benefits of waste to wealth initiative.
Odumboni said enforcement of the waste bin directive would begin on October 1, adding that households must possess and maintain a bin in their homes, as defaulters risked prosecution.
He enjoined Lagosians to maintain a double sorting waste system – having a general waste bin and a recycling waste bin.
“You must have a waste bin by October 1 or you will be served an abatement notice and, from January 4, 2023, you will stand to be prosecuted if you cannot provide evidence of your bin. You have three months to sort yourself out to get a bin for your household,” he said.
LAWMA Executive Director Adekunle Adebiyi said the agency was determined to ensure that efforts were felt by residents and, most importantly, the environment.
