Waste management: Ogun mandates residential premises to containerise their waste

Ogun State Government has mandated all residential houses in the state to henceforth containerize their waste by providing covered waste containers in front of their premises for effective waste management.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Environment and Managing Director of Ogun State Waste Management Authority OGWAMA, Abayomi Semako Hunye made this known in a statement in Abeokuta made available to Nigerian Tribune.

He said the order because necessary to make waste collection at this domestic level better organised through containerisation and bring more residential premises into waste management system that hitherto dumped or burnt their waste into unauthorised places. Such actions have negative effects on the environment.

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Hunye said residents are free to purchase their containers from open markets or make special arrangements with the Waste Private Sector Participants assigned to their communities.

“This new order will not only bring in more premises into the system but will discourage waste been dropped into uncovered plastics, nylons, cans and  sacks which make the environment untidy, unsafe and unhealthy for human habitation,” he said.

To sustain the new order since the collectors are Private Sector Participants assigned to different communities, Hunye said each residential premises are to pay a token to the PSP that service them in form of waste bill while the state government will augment the payment.

He added: “The subsidised residential waste bill is a proof that residents in a particular premise subscribe to the waste service and not the real cost of waste collection from their premises which is higher.

“The bill will also give residents the opportunity to have this important document which is now used for local, national, international and financial documentations and transactions.”

For those premises which are not accessible by waste trucks and fear not been serviced after complying with the new order, Hunye assured them of adequate services as waste tricycles will be deployed to service them. He called for the cooperation of all residents and Community Development Associations to made the new order a huge success for the overall interest and well-being of all.