ALL I WANT IS YOUR WASTE

GREG ODOGWU

            Nigeria is a very interesting nation, full of talented people bustling with ever-present sense of humour; and which no doubt, is the sole dynamic of our ability to adapt to any type of situation. Daily, we are faced with tragi-comedies which ordinarily would give a more serious nation unending worries (and maybe bring about lasting change), but which we always take in our stride, and even use for cathartic improvement of our psychological well-being. Remember how the saga of “Oga at the top” went viral, and while it was trending, brought some monetary gains to some sharp entrepreneurs. Another littleNaija humour that interests me is the one reflected in today’s title. Iyanya, one of the country’s popular musicians who received unparalleled airplay this year with the release of the hit song “Kukere”, also had another song with lewd lyrics which raised the ire of parents and other prim Nigerians. Just in the midst of the brouhaha engendered by Iyanya’s music, I saw a commercial sewage disposal tanker, with the words “All I want is your waste”, boldly written on its body as the business’ advertising slogan.

As we enter this year’s rainy season, that clever message on the waste-collecting tanker got me thinking. Many of us are guilty of giving our waste to the wrong “guy” without knowing the adverse effects this practice causes to the environment. How many times have we upturned our full-to-the-brim refuse bin into the fast moving rain-water passing by our house, with the simple justification that the waste will be carried away, maybe to the ocean where it will no longer be any trouble? How many times have we dumped our refuse right in the middle of the road, on the median strip, with the reason that others had already dumped their’s and therefore the “government” will do something about it? I am sure that if we took a moment to consider the journey of the dumped refuse in that rain puddle, or the toxic mound on the median, we would not dump again. Without any doubt, that “little dirt” is the major cause the water channels are blocked in the rainy season, thereby causing major urban flood disasters.

When I brooded on this idea, I had an epiphany of sort. Heck, maybe Mother Earth is actually talking to us. Her urgent message is simple: All I want is your waste! This is essentially because if we give our waste to her, we will gain two things: Money and zero-flood.  Now, the concept of waste-to-wealth is real, and many developed nations are using it not only as a strategy for adapting to climate change but as a means of empowerment to their citizens. I have heard of a city in Germany whose sole source of energy supply is waste-to-energy power generation. In a developing world like ours, waste-to-wealth project is a social venture and microenterprise whose task is to oversee a process of sorting waste, recycling and reuse. According to the Living Earth Foundation, a forefront organisation in environmental infrastructure provision, “this results in a sustained environmental sanitation improvement, with subsequent benefits to the health and well-being of the low income earners and slum dwellers and the emergence of a skilled and effective business sector wherein social enterprise, founded by and in poor urban communities, derives wealth from the provision of environmental services and derivative recycling and reuse activities.” The waste becomes the catalyst for income generation and employment creation. This is what Nigeria needs today with its teeming unemployed youth population.

The imperative of waste-to-wealth initiative can never be overemphasised. For the first time in history, over half the world’s population lives in urban areas. The trend of urbanisation is expected to increase markedly, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where the urban population is forecast to double between 2000 and 2030. Of this urban population, over 70 per cent live in slum conditions with the associated problems of underemployment, low household income and widespread poverty. The growth in population is placing increased demand on the urban environment; there is the same amount of land but more people; the same number of toilets but more human waste; more rubbish and even less space to dispose of it. Widespread poor solid waste management creates associated health problems and poses a threat to surface and groundwater quality. The onus for managing the physical environment in poor areas remains with the communities themselves: if they don’t address the problems of household waste, poor public sanitation, clogged and disease-spreading drainage, no-one will do it for them. So, why not do it and still make a living from it.

Take Abuja, for example, many Nigerians troop into the city on a daily basis, but there is no commensurate infrastructure to carter for the fast-growing population. Sadly, many public commentators concentrate on housing and power as the lacking infrastructure without looking at waste management, which is a ticking time bomb on its own. The good thing about the human society is that once economic gain is attached to anything, it becomes easy to put the matter into perspective, and if it is a problem, it surely becomes simple to be sorted out through demand and supply. For example, if you look around today, you will not see any of those silvery foils from photographic studios lying in the gutters and canals like they used to in the past. This is simply because Nigerians discovered that photographic waste generated plenty money. This is the plastic-like materials which are used to produce pictures in the laboratory. They are made of silver and recycled to yield same, so they are now so precious.

Lagos State which generates about 10,000 metric tonnes of refuse every day has instituted some enabling framework to attract the private sector into the business of turning waste into wealth and this is creating a lot of employment at the moment. In fact, it is a marvel to witness the sophisticated and totally self-sustaining community right on the waste sites of Lagos. I suggest that Abuja and other states should not wait until they have the same waste emergency Lagos had before embarking on a well-articulated government-instituted, private-sector driven waste-to-wealth programme. We need this not only as a wealth creating venture but as an adaptation strategy against climate change. What is more, let it also be incorporated in corporate social responsibility framework – any company that breeds a particular type of waste must take responsibility for clean-up, and in positively impacting the nation.

I remember the words of the National Coordinator of Go Green Nigeria, Light up Nigeria, Dr. Wale Akande, recently, as he elaborated on the social and environmental responsibility aspect of the organisation’s project wherein 100 million TCP energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps shall be injected into the nation in order to reduce our energy demand and so cut down on emission of carbon via power generation. When asked how they intend to offset the environmental footprint of the project, Akande said TCP, the project’s American partner, plans to bring into the country a first rate recycling plant which has the capacity to recycle 100 million bulbs in 15 days. The total essence is to create employment for Nigerians while utilising the machine to recycle other end-of-life and broken bulbs littering our streets, and blocking the waterways. I believe that when Nigerians see this recycling plant and the money to be made by gathering dead bulbs for recycling, you can rest assured that you will never see any useless or broken bulbs lying around anywhere in Nigeria again, because they will automatically become cash. What I am sure you may see are youths going around the neighbourhoods with the message of the moment: All I want is your [bulb] waste!