Govt can’t centralise waste disposal and succeed —Rodipe

Olaiya Hammed Rodipe, a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, isn’t a technologist. The scion of the popular Bisi Rodipe family is an architect seeking solution to problems of waste disposal in Nigeria.

 

The government lost control of the management of Olusosun dumpsite which accommodated most of the 13,000 tons of waste being daily generated in the state, and shut it down, compounding the waste challenges in the state. Are you worried?

Indisputably, there is no way the government can resolve the intricacies of waste disposal under a centralised operating system, no matter how much is spent. It will amount to colossal waste of resources as if nothing is done to overcome the problem of waste disposal.

The only solution is when households can treat their waste directly. The immeasurable benefits are absolutely irresistible. The e-Waste Disposal Device System (Micro-Telemetry Bio-Refinery) is predominantly and imperatively developed to replace landfill technologies, to care for solid and liquid waste alike.

What government needs is the decentralised operating system, which uses the ‘Online Platform’ wherein people are directly involved using their own system (fast-track e-Waste Disposal Device System) in treating their waste at every point of waste generation. This will prevent compilation of refuse with dumpsites phased out. The device will save people and government a lot of stress and economic burden because the whole operation is done with ease.

Let us view a simple scenario of a town with eight million homes generating the waste volume of 13,000 metric tons per day. Government employed 1,300 waste workers for evacuating waste into trucks on a daily basis and they are paying N80,000 each every month. The financial implication is that the government will be paying waste workers N104 million monthly, with overhead and the rest, about N135.2 milllion.

But for the household machine, the main equipment used is Macro Workable Transponder linked up with the Global Satellite Communication Network System of the facilitators in creating Interoperability Network System for the users to use the system at will. The conducts of users are inherently and electronically checkmated in a way that nobody can abuse the system and instead of spending, government and operators would be smiling to banks, while households also spend little or nothing to get the equipment.

It is quite possible to achieve zero waste to zero emission in every society, regardless of population, under the Decentralised Operation System.

 

You have a concept of waste management but it is mainly domestic-focussed. How can your invention help the citizenry and the environment?

The users use the fast-track e-Waste Disposal Device System at their homes or workplaces as a proper means of disposing their waste effectively. When everywhere is clean, everybody benefits. The device is like any other home or office appliances, easy to handle by the individuals but its peculiarity is based on waste treatment to Renewable Energy at its best, without stress or economic burden.

The current cost of petrol is N145 per litre and average homes need 20 litres per day, which implies that the cost will be N2,900. For the machine, the rate of procurement is just N5 per litre and average homes need 20 litres per day, which implies the cost will be N100. Imagine the reduction.

For the case of variations, let us put it that people will invest less than 20 per cent and gain over 80 per cent whenever they are using this system in getting rid of their waste as the main source of power generation. Invariably, waste will be eventually scarce and by so doing, cleanliness will be duly achieved and sustained effortlessly.

 

Isn’t your innovation a little cumbersome in operation and too foreign in concept?

The device is just like our electronic appliances such as television, radio, gas cooker and washing machines.

The innovation resolves the complexity of existing municipal waste management by simplifying the whole process in managing waste at every point of waste generation to what individuals can really handle at will. The process is not cumbersome. It is natural people will be sceptical with new innovation but this valued innovation shares the same concept with GSM phones, ATM machines and Cable Television Stations, its peculiarity is mainly based on waste management using the telecom signal with Internet application. The operation of the device is Information and Communication Technology.

 

You are supposed to be having a kind of partnership with some Nigerian and foreign institutions…

It is true that I cannot do it alone. As a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, I am using the institution’s facilities to carry out the research and the institution is mainly responsible for patenting the innovation through the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP). World Bank just opened a window for assisting the institution’s development and each department is mandated to utilise the opportunity given by presenting their proposal for which I present the proposal on behalf of my department for the World Bank assessment.

This global project demands global approach. It is yesterday (Wednesday) that The Rector, Dr O. O. Aluko, made a pronouncement during the inaugural lecture of Engr. Osore that he was in NOTAP office that the patent certificate of fast-track e-Waste Disposal Device System is ready. Indeed, it is cheering news for the polytechnic community. The lecture centred on renewable energy. The outcome will be great for all and sundry.

 

At what stage is the process of mass production of the mobile incinerator?

This is a crucial question. What we need to put in place are the parameters. The prototype of fast-track e-Waste Disposal Device System would be handled by prototype specialist builders.

 

Is it right to call you waste messiah?

Well, there is a way the question sounds like comparing me to Jesus or Muhammad but if I may answer it, I will say yes, because I have a super solution to waste problems not only in Lagos State but in Nigeria.