Experts worry as rising waste level threatens 2030 SDGs achievement

Facilities management experts and environmental activists have expressed concerns over disturbing increase in waste level which, they note, is rising in a geometric progression while collection and disposal rise at arithmetical progression, posing a strong threat to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which is just a few years away.
Nigeria’s quest to achieve the SDGs by 2030 remains a dream and Femi Akintunde, Group Managing Director, Alpha Mead Facilities, argues that if the country remains reluctant to implement strategies, practices and processes that will enable it effectively manage its rising waste level will be a mirage.
Akintunde at a National Waste Management Conference in Lagos recently explained that given the role of effective waste management in achieving the SDGs, the country needs to rethink its strategy with keen attention to developing a holistic waste management plan, encouraging public private partnership (PPP) in the sector and aligning current actions with the principle of waste hierarchy, which thrives on the principles of reduction, re-using, recycling and disposal.
The SDGs are new set of 17 universal goals crafted to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. These 17 Goals build on the successes of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) while including new areas such as climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace and justice, among other priorities.
A close look at the SDGs reveals they are so tightly interconnected that it is almost difficult to achieve their tenets without giving all the goals equal level of attention. For example, achieving the third goal –Good Health and Well Being – significantly depends on the success of the sixth target – clean water and sanitation.
In his paper titled ‘Achieving Sustainable Development through Effective Waste Management Strategy and Practices in Nigeria”, Akintunde pointed out that with the exception of Lagos which has recorded appreciable success in managing its over 10,000 tons of urban waste daily, most states currently grapple with two major challenges—inadequate capacity to cope with the upsurge in the volume of generated waste and the lack of thorough implementation and enforcement strategy of necessary regulations.
According to him, with the United Kingdom effectively managing more than 90 percent of its waste, while Nigeria only collects between 20 – 30 percent, with services highly concentrated in urban areas, there is need to employ innovative strategies that can help the country scale up its waste management process.
Corroborating Akintunde’s claim, Morris Atoki, Manager, Sustainability and Climate, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) listed other challenges scuttling the country’s waste management value chain to include lack of modern technology, policy formulation/strategy implementation, lack of skilled professionals, monitoring and control among others.
These limitations, she believes, can be tackled if the fundamentals of effective waste management is examined and the approach to a greener environment becomes more strategic.
For Ola Oresanya, Managing Director, Globetech Ramedial Nigeria Limited, environmental degradation and infrastructure decay are part of the many challenges of sustainable development with waste management being a visible index for performance of urban administration.
“Effective Waste management is the first sign of a sustainable city,” Oresanya said, adding that the task of urban waste management centers include street sweeping, refuse storage, refuse collection, transportation, emerging waste services, resource recovery, revenue generation, disposal, monitoring and evaluation.

CHUKA UROKO