LAWMA targets $2.5bn annually from circular economy

The Lagos Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, says the state will generate up to $2.5 billion annually from the circular economy when adequately harnessed.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of LAWMA, Dr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin, disclosed this in an interview with NAN in Lagos.

A circular economy is an economic system based on the reuse and regeneration of materials or products, especially as a means of continuing production in a sustainable or environmentally friendly way.

Gbadegesin said the authority was looking at an economic value of $2.5 billion from the circular economy annually when harnessed.

He said the initiative would require much advocacy and public sensitization to achieve the desired result.

He added that the era of the linear model of waste collection was over; hence, the need to apply the circular economy in waste management.

“We were used to applying the linear model of waste collection. Here, waste is collected, taken to a landfill, and then buried.

“Now, we are introducing the circular economy. All of that waste buried before now has value.

“The circular economy is a major initiative because we are talking about a radical transformation of the current system of transporting 13,000 tonnes of waste per day to a point.

“Ten thousand tonnes of that waste can be pushed into other uses in a circular economy,”; Gbadegesin said.

He stressed the importance of waste sorting at the source to achieve the requirements of a circular economy.

“Ninety percent of our waste still has value if sorted. We must begin to sort at the source, which will require a lot of education and advocacy.

“We must be able to collect the sorted waste through community recycling centres, where people within that area can bring recyclable materials like PET bottles, paper, metal, and even food waste, where off-takers will receive them in exchange for incentives.

“The circular economy drive is a major undertaking. We are not doing this in isolation. We are working with sister agencies.

“We are so busy pushing this initiative that we do not have enough time to tell the stories of what we are doing,”; he said.