The Country Manager, APM Terminals Nigeria, Mr Klaus Laursen, on Sunday, November 14, 2021 in Lagos announced that the terminal was mopping up plastic wastes at the Lagos port by more than 400,000 bottles per year.
Laursen, in a statement he signed and issued in Lagos, noted that the terminal marked this year’s reduction of plastic waste through its annual Go Green Initiative.
“Go Green is an awareness building programme initiated by the Global Ports Group (GPG), an association of port and terminal operators, collaborating on key Environmental, Health, Safety and Security topics.
“This year, APM Terminal is focused on reducing its plastic footprint by replacing single-use plastic bottled water with re-fill bottles and water dispensers, thereby eliminating an annual waste of 408,800 single-use plastic bottles,” he said.
Laursen also stated that APM Terminals take their responsibility to the environment very serious; as well as ”towards the community today, towards the future and their kids”.
He said that, every year, they gave all employees the opportunity to contribute with their Go Green Campaign, as their chance to give back.
“We will do this this year and will continue to do it in the future. And we can use our Lean waste methodology, our approach to always improve and always reduce the impact on the environment.
“We owe that to ourselves, we owe that to our kids, and we owe that to the future,” he said
The statement also quoted the Procurement Manager of APM Terminals Apapa, Ms Chinyere Adenaike, as saying that they ensured their employees drank clean water without endangering the environment.
“Everyday at APM Terminals Apapa, our employees consume 1,120 units of plastic bottled water. That is a massive churn out from a single community of workers.
“We may not be able to change how the outer world creates environmental pollution, caused by plastic waste, but we definitely resolve not to contribute to that any longer,” she said.
Adenaike further stated that in order to reduce the company’s plastic footprint, water dispensers had been placed all over the terminal to drastically cut down waste generated from single-use plastic water bottles.
She said the company also distributed 1,300 branded refill bottles to employees and contractors working at the terminal, enabling them to refill their bottles from the dispensers.
“The future of our unborn children depend on this; so that compels us not only to make it work but also sustain it,” Adenaike said.
Similarly, the statement also quoted Mr Gbenga Odeyemi of the Operation Labour Management unit, as saying that the replacement of bottled water with dispenser water had helped in reducing plastic waste at the terminal.
“The problem of picking empty bottled water around the terminal, constituting a nuisance; all that had been eliminated or perhaps limited because we cannot eliminate waste like that but we can limit it,” he said.
Mobile Equipment Supervisor, Mr Okon Anthony, commended the initiative as capable of contributing to reduction of plastic wastes at the port.
APM Terminals Apapa has remained committed to the Go Green campaign since it was launched six years ago.
In 2018, the staff of APM Terminals Apapa cleaned up and removed plastic wastes from Ogogoro Island – a riverine community in Lagos.
In 2019, in partnership with the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA), it carried out a cleanup exercise of heaps of refuse on Apapa-Wharf Road and also donated waste bins.
By Chiazo Ogbolu
