WAMASON calls for enlightenment on waste disposal
NAN-H-15
Waste
By Chidinma Agu
Lagos, Nov. 18, 2016 (NAN) Prof. Oladele Osibanjo, the President, Waste Management Society of Nigeria (WAMASON), on Friday called on states and waste managers to embark on public enlightenment on waste disposal.
Osibanjo made the call at the end of three-day training for waste managers on Waste Handling and Collection in Lagos.
According to him, wastes have been proven worldwide as valuable raw materials for other products.
“There is waste everywhere because people do not see the economic values in them.
“Waste is a resource and one man’s waste may be another man’s wealth.
“Opportunities are unlimited in waste, that is why there should be massive and intensive awareness creation on the resources in waste,’’ he said.
Osibanjo said that people should think that the wastes they wanted to throw away would be useful to someone else before doing that.
He said that waste management was a trillion dollar business, adding that it could be another goldmine than oil and gas.
The WAMASON President said that waste disposal was capable of reducing unemployment in Nigeria.
“Collecting e-waste alone is enough to provide a meaningful livelihood to somebody and takes him out of unemployment.
“The world is transiting to a green community where waste is treated as a resource,’’ he said.
Osibanjo said that there was the need to characterize and separate wastes before doing anything with them,
He said that waste characterisation and separation should start from the home, hence the need to carry out massive awareness campaign on waste disposal.
According to him, waste is supposed to give wealth and health, and not illness as it is today.
Osibanjo said that the primary healthcare challenges like the country’s high record of typhoid fever were caused by mismanagement of waste.
Mr Ola Oresanya, the Lead Facilitator at the training, said that the training was to develop the human capacity in waste management.
“This will enable the country to benefit from syndicated international financing strategy that is key to solving environmental and ecological problems of the nation,’’ he said.
According to him, Nigeria will not benefit from the fund without a national action plan on waste management and developing the human capacity to drive it.
Oresanya said that environmental and ecological problems in the country included desertification in the North, ocean surge, coastal and land erosion in the South.
He said that WAMASON was aggressive in developing the human capacity in waste management to be able to play its role in combating climate change. (NAN)
ACA/ENN/TA
Edited by Edwin Nwachukwu/Tajudeen Atitebi