Lagos, Lafarge Partner To Manage Waste
The Lagos State Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with LAFARGE Africa PLC on Monday, aiming to collect non-recyclable combustible waste across the state and landfill sites.
The waste collected will be transported to LAFARGE’s Ewekoro plant for conversion into an alternative fuel source for production.
He highlighted that this collaboration with LAFARGE Africa is a significant step towards achieving a zero-waste situation and reducing the amount of waste ending up in landfills.
“It’s a symbiotic relationship, we have the waste, you have the use for it and waste is not waste until it is tagged as waste; there is always value in it globally; this will go a long way to help us reduce waste generated in Lagos State and also go to the landfills, we thank LAFARGE and we are ready to put everything in it to support the process, he said.
The Commissioner recalled that the Lagos Government, in the recent past, had also signed an MOU to help decommission existing Landfills, an MOU to convert waste to energy, and an MOU with a Dutch company to take off electronic waste, adding that these processes are embarked upon deliberately and methodically.
” We believe that climate change issues are real-life issues, and if this generation fails to address it frontally, we may not have this continent in the next few years, and the signs are all over. We can choose to play the ostrich, but it will affect us all,” he said.
He emphasized that flooding is a global issue affecting countries and cities that have never experienced such events before.
He attributed this to the effects of global warming, highlighting that extreme weather patterns, including excessively cold winters and hot summers, are evident even in the Western world.
The Commissioner emphasised that everyone has a duty to the earth to make it better and save the earth from going under, saying that a sustainable path to address it is the only way out. “We are addressing the issues of waste frontally in the states. Waste sorting is a culture, and it is a culture that you must imbibe and build over time; the separation of waste is here to stay.
Plastics must be in this particular bin, paper must be in a different bin. All these are part of the culture that we must build and we are determined to do it”. he said
Lolu Alade-Akinyemi, Chief Executive Officer of LAFARGE Africa, announced the company’s intention to collect waste from various sources and divert it to the Ewekoro Plant as an alternative fuel for production.
This partnership aims to bolster LAFARGE Africa’s position in sustainable construction and climate action while improving waste management practices in Nigeria.
The collaboration offers numerous benefits, such as access to dependable alternative fuel sources, cost-efficiency, regulatory compliance, and alignment with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.
“We have successfully deployed waste-to-energy solutions globally, and today, we are extending that expertise to Lagos. The waste sourced through this partnership will be utilised as an alternative fuel in our cement kilns, replacing fossil fuels, reducing our carbon footprint, and contributing to Nigeria’s decarbonisation journey,” he said.
The Managing Director, LAWMA, Dr. Muyiwa Gbedegesin in his remarks, noted that the partnership will address a lot of waste issues, adding that the state will surely tell a remarkable story not just for the African continent, but for the entire world because of what the partnership aims to achieve which will be to the benefit of all.
