Why recycling plant projects fail — Sridhar

Community-based recycling plant projects have failed due to lack of commitment and selfish interests, Professor Mynepalli Sridhar, an environmental consultant of international repute and professor of Environmental Health at the University of Ibadan, has said.

The professor said in an interview with Nigerian Tribune that the researchers at the university had made attempts to scale up research findings by introducing new technologies for the benefit of communities outside the Ivory Tower. He gave instances of some recycling plant projects he and other experts from the university facilitated.

Professor Sridhar said, “Anytime a student does a good project we want to scale it up. We started with fertiliser. Fertiliser experiments were carried out in small baskets in our department in UI. Then we moved to communities where we scaled up. We experimented in the communities. There we were able to provide 10 to 12 different types of fertilisers using city garbage, livestock materials, water hyacinth. We made very good fertiliser out of these.

“Luckily, when we started we were part of the sustainable cities project and Ibadan was part of the cities. Then we joined hands with them. We started a project in Bodija, Oyo State. We said let’s take out the market waste and produce fertiliser. This was in 1996 and we completed it in 1998. It went on well till the governor changed. The next governor had different priorities. Several governors came and no one showed much interest. When we put up that plant UNDP, World Bank and neighbouring countries like Ghana came and appreciated the project, that it was a good model and gave us commendation. The Dubai Clean Cities prize was given to Oyo State. When we look at the global trend, every European city or community has a composting site or landfill site for electricity generating plant. These happen at the community level. If it can work in European countries why not in Nigeria?

“Having seen the Bodija project, the same governor asked us to put it in OritaAperin. Till today it is not commissioned. It was originally to be a transfer station for the waste. Then after that it was to be a recycling plant.

Under NINAAFEH, we sourced some funds from UNDP and then we provided a small size plant for them. Today they are managing the plant. We got some funding from MTN and we did a project at Alesinloye Market so that market waste can be managed.

So instead of taking waste to landfills, they paid to the facility and it managed the waste. As a result, we were producing fertiliser bags.  Each bag was sold at N800 then, but now a bag fertiliser costs N5,000. The Alesinloye plant came up 10 years ago. For seven or eight years it worked very well. Our policy is not to manage the facilities. We only give the technology and train the people, and hand over to them. It was a build, operate and transfer model.

“Today, the plant is intact but they are not able to manage. So, we are now looking at privatising it. It is a waste recycling plant. There were three units. Number one is fertiliser – we also rehabilitated the toilets. Then, we had plastic recycling. We also had a very small-scale biogas plant just for training purpose. These were present in that complex.”

He added that in Ondo State, formerGovernor Olusegun Agagu, “invited us to start something in Akure. This was the Sunshine fertiliser plant. We put up a big plant that can manage almost 15 to 20 tonnes. It has a fertiliser plant, it has plastic recycling and metal recycling. It went on for a while.”

Professor Sridhar said lack of commitment and self-interest hindered efficient management  of the facility later on.

He said, “But again came the problem we are facing in the country – government-owned facilities do not perform properly. There is no commitment. They employ somebody fine. But those people who are employed they want to gain for themselves rather than giving to the state. This is a very big problem. We operated for seven years then we handed over and they were running it.

“The problem is when a new government comes in, they have different priorities.

“Niger State came and we put up an organic fertiliser plant for them. It was never commissioned because another government came in. It is there as a museum piece.”

He however said there were some successful cases.

“In Shell Development Company at Forcados, they had a problem with food waste, and we developed a fertiliser plant using food waste. That was a small-scale plant.

“Former President Obasanjo commissioned the Akure plant. When he was no more president, he approached us to come to Olusegun Obasanjo Public Library (OOPL). Then we provided organic fertiliser, plastic recycling, and biogas. He said whenever his visitors come, he wants to showcase these things.”

 

 

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