The President of the Lagos Recyclers Association, Dr Bakare Oluwafemi, has urged the Lagos State Government and other decision-makers to educate the public more about the harm plastic waste is causing to the environment.
He spoke during an online meeting titled “Unequivocal with Obuesi Phillips”, which focused on plastic waste problems in Nigeria. Obuesi Phillips, the CEO of Urban Waste Dynamics Limited, hosted the session.
Dr Bakare, who is also the CEO of Ecoflow Nigeria Limited, stated that banning plastics is insufficient if people are not adequately informed about how to manage plastic waste. He believes better communication with the public will make the government’s ban more effective. “We have been talking about banning plastic for over a year now, but nothing much has changed. Many plastics made by companies are hard to collect and recycle. They end up in places where it is difficult to retrieve them,” he explained.
He gave three reasons why plastics are not being recycled appropriately: first, some plastics have very low value; second, it is difficult to collect them from all corners of the city; and third, people lack sufficient knowledge about recycling. Dr Bakare also discussed plastic pickers who collect waste for a living. He said they often ignore dirty plastic bottles because they think they are useless. “We must teach them that even dirty bottles still have value,” he said.
He added that beyond recycling, there is a process called upcycling, where waste can be transformed into valuable items. Dr Bakare concluded by saying that the government made a policy but failed to properly involve both the users and producers of plastics in the process. He urged better education and engagement to solve the problem.
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