By Seyi Babalola
The Association of Scrap and Waste Pickers of Lagos (ASWOL) joined comrades around the world in celebrating International Waste Pickers Day 2024, themed “Zero Waste Sensitization Campaign and Awareness on How to Separate Wastes from Source”.
Waste pickers play an essential role in the waste management system. They are individuals who collect and segregate recyclable materials from waste to earn a livelihood.
The event, which was organized by the association (ASWOL) in conjunction with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), took place on Friday, March 1st, in Lagos, where members of the association and some of their partners walked through the Excellence Round about Aguda to Omole, sensitizing the residents on how to separate their waste from its source and how to start making money with their waste before assembling at the Ojodu Local Council Development Area for more orientation about the event.
In his address, the National President of the Association of Scrap and Waste Pickers in Nigeria, Comrade Friday Oku, stated that the journey started in 2020 and that this is the first time the association is celebrating International Waste Picker’s Day as an outdoor event, noting that it is very important to honour the past heroes who were murdered in Columbia in 1992.
Friday explained further about the significance of the event. He said, “The significance of today’s event is the Zero Waste Awareness Campaign, focusing on the community and teaching households to separate their waste from its source.
He talked about the formalization of informal waste and how the association has gone into negotiating with regulatory authorities like LAWMA to ensure that cart pushers are not continually seen as endangered species.
“We are discussing this with LAWMA and as I am talking to you now, we have started what we call remuneration data collection for our members from one local government to another in conjunction with LAWMA.
“So it is after that that we are going to pronounce the integration of the informal waste into the recycling value chain, so we are doing that and it is just a break for now. We started it in October last year and we have a break because, you know, government policy, the challenges—they will tell you there are no funds and all those things are where we are now. We are waiting for the new budget, according to the MD that will start the second stage of the remuneration and data collection.”
In the same context, the President rates Nigerians’ responses regarding waste management in the country.
According to him, ” Many things have changed because people started knowing that waste is money, from waste to wealth. Some of the households have started recognizing the importance of waste pickers. That stigmatization that they always call us rogues and many names have started changing because since we started to organize ourselves and our people, what we are waiting, for now, is the government, as I said before, and on the federal level, we are working so hard that even the federal minister of labor and employment has called in through an international labor organization that they want us to be formalized and we are working on that.
“We contribute to the GDP of the country and by the grace of God, if they formalize us, we will also contribute to the internal generation, the revenue generation of the states and the local government. From there, we will get more employment and this insecurity will reduce because by the time people start knowing the work and doing it, the insecurity will reduce.”
Mr. Friday also emphasised that the association will set up a place in the Ojudu Local Government where residents can bring in their waste plastic in exchange for money.
In the same light, the Executive Director of Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADev Nigeria), Dr. Lesley Adogame, also stated the important role of waste pickers in society.
“Waste pickers are very important in the entire value chain of plastic waste management, particularly because for you to aggregate any waste, the waste has to, from the source, get to any point of aggregation or any collection point.
“We’re moving to a circular economy where you want to just keep turning around waste to wealth and that entire concept. So you need people at the grassroots who can help take those wastes.”
He noted how waste management fits into their line of programs: “There’s what we call the zero waste initiative. And that is the reduction of waste at the source, you know, before the waste becomes very voluminous. And the waste pickers are playing a big role in waste reduction at the source. So we have a program, a national program, where we are trying to promote waste pickers in Nigeria because they are not so well recognized. So we are launching a national program where waste picking should begin to be recognized. The government will need to recognize them.
“All the policy processes in the value chain of plastics or waste management will make sure that waste pickers are a critical stakeholder in the entire process and their voice must be heard. So what we are doing is promoting the work of waste pickers. And that’s why we see that their work is very valuable to what we do. And we are always partnering with them.
“SRADev has also been promoting a ban on single-use plastics and sees a future where single-use plastics are phased out in Nigeria. The Lagos State Government has already taken steps towards this goal by banning styrofoam, he noted.
The environmental head officer of Ojodu LCDA, Mrs. Shotomiwa Victoria, also urges Lagosians to maintain total hygiene and ensure they take care of their health by not littering their environment with waste plastic but rather seeing it as an opportunity to turn their waste into money.
Mr. Deji Akinpelu, the co-founder of Rethinking Cities, advises individuals to gather waste from the source for easier recycling and also calls for a better reward system from the government to incentivize recycling.