LAWMA to address waste management with improve technology, advocacy

The managing director of Lagos Waste management Authority (LAWMA), Abdulwahab Ogunbiyi, has identified deployment of improved technology, advocacy and strategic collaboration between trade associations, private investors and communities as the agency focal steps to sustain the tempo of waste management in the state.

Ogunbiyi, while addressing journalists at his maiden media session at the LAWMA office in Lagos, observed that the state approximately generated 13,000 metric tons of waste daily, saying that the agency intended to tackle such through effective technology deployment.

According to him, “the first approach to use is what we refer to as waste characterisation, through the introduction of mechanisation to ascertain the quantity of wastes in terms of nylon, plastics so that when constructing the conveyor machine, it will be built to specification.”

LAWMA plans to fabricate the machinery required locally in collaboration with experts in the field, he said, adding that with the level of technology available now there is so much the agency can achieve.

The LAWMA boss further pointed out that the aspiration of the agency under his management was to bridge capacity technology and institutional gaps in waste management through viable technical approach as well as support local authorities and municipalities to move towards a zero waste society.

He observed further that previously the responsibility of waste disposal was solely carried out by LAWMA, but that had changed as a result of engagement of private service providers, stressing that the target of the state government was to reduce to the barest minimum waste across the state.

He solicited for the support of the media for effective advocacy on the issue of waste management, while assuring them that his agency was open to partnership for effective operation.

He also promised to build on the achievements of his predecessor and commended him for taking the agency to an enviable height.