Waste crisis: Sanwo-Olu declares State of Emergency, orders 160 new compactor trucks

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday declared what he described as a “small state of emergency” on waste management in the state, as his administration moved to tackle mounting refuse collection and disposal challenges across the metropolis.

Sanwo-Olu spoke after inspecting the Olusosun dumpsite, where he said the state had been experiencing pressure on waste collection and indiscriminate disposal in different parts of Lagos.

“We’ve seen the pressure of the turnaround of waste collection in different parts of the city. We’ve seen a challenge of people throwing waste indiscriminately in different parts of the city,” the governor said.

He said the state had introduced monthly sanitation exercises and intensified advocacy on waste management, but acknowledged that efforts to coordinate waste disposal had not been sufficiently effective.

“So we’re here for ourselves to see what is the problem, what is happening, and for us to clearly be able to declare what we will call a small state of emergency, just so that we can get out of this very unpleasant situation,” he said.

The governor said the immediate plan was to increase the capacity of Olusosun to receive waste, noting that the facility currently receives between 250 and 350 trucks daily.

He said the government was working to increase the number to between 350 and 450 trucks by expanding tipping points from the current two or three to four or five.

Sanwo-Olu also announced plans to make additional disposal sites operational within the coming weeks to reduce the pressure on Olusosun.

According to him, Solu 3 in Alimosho currently requires road stabilisation to improve access, with the work expected to begin at the weekend and be completed within two to three weeks.

He added that stabilisation work would also be carried out at Iwulepe in Ikorodu and Oke Osho in Epe.

The governor said the state hoped to have at least four active dumpsites-Olusosun, Solu 3, Iwulepe and Oke Osho, within about six weeks, with a fifth site, Erikitte in Badagry, also being brought into operation.

Sanwo-Olu said the expansion was aimed at reducing the time waste collection trucks spend travelling to and waiting at disposal facilities.

“What that will do is it will enhance and improve the turnaround of the trucks on the various roads so that they don’t need to come to the dump site and spend one day, spend 12 hours for them to be able to pick,” he said.

The governor also disclosed that the state government had ordered 160 new compactor trucks, which are expected to begin arriving soon.

He said the additional trucks would increase the capacity to evacuate waste from homes and roads to disposal facilities.

Sanwo-Olu said the government was also planning to procure landfill compactors, which would be used to compact waste at landfill sites.

Beyond the immediate measures, he said the state was implementing a long-term waste management strategy in partnership with development partners, including Zoomlion.

The plan includes the construction of two transfer loading stations, one at Olusosun and another at Solu 3, each designed to handle about 2,400 metric tonnes of waste.

The governor said the facilities would receive and compact waste before transferring it to material recovery facilities for further sorting and processing.

He said two material recovery sites are being developed at Oke Osho in Epe and Erikitte in Badagry.

Sanwo-Olu said the transfer loading stations and material recovery facilities were expected to become operational between the second quarter of next year and the first quarter, describing the investments as a major component of the state’s long-term strategy for waste generation, disposal and conversion.

He also addressed the challenges facing Private Sector Participation operators, popularly known as PSPs.

According to him, PSP operators had agreed to review their membership and remove operators that lacked the capacity, knowledge, experience or financial strength to provide effective waste collection services.

He said the exercise would be carried out alongside an independent review by the state government.

“We just don’t want to have 800 PSPs when it is actually only 400 that is effective,” Sanwo-Olu said.

The governor said the PSP operators had also indicated their intention to procure additional compactor trucks, while the government would explore ways of helping them access financing without exposing operators to the risk of bankruptcy.

Sanwo-Olu, however, appealed to Lagos residents to pay for waste collection services provided by PSP operators.

He criticised the attitude of residents who demand waste collection services but refuse to pay for them.

“It’s so unfair to see people rendering service and people are not paying them for the services they are rendering,” he said.

The governor said government and PSP operators must improve service delivery while residents must also accept their responsibility by paying for waste collection.

He said the combination of additional trucks, more disposal sites, improved tipping capacity, transfer loading stations and material recovery facilities would provide short-, medium- and long-term solutions to Lagos’ waste management challenges.

Sanwo-Olu said the government expected to see physical development on some of the long-term projects by the end of the year, although completion was projected for the first quarter of next year.

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