Having recognised the roles played by waste pickers in the society and in its drive towards proper plastic waste management, the Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADev) Nigeria has concluded plans to embark on a national programme aimed at promoting the informal sectors whose daily activities is to collect plastic wastes on the streets to ensure cleaner and safer environment.
Dr. Lesley Adogame, Executive Director, SRADev Nigeria, who stated this in his chat with journalists on Friday, March 1, 2024, in Lagos while marking the 2024 International Waste Pickers Day organised by the Association of Scraps and Waste Pickers of Lagos (ASWOL), said: “We are launching a national programme where government would need to begin to recognise the waste pickers, all policy processes in the value-chain of waste management will make sure that waste pickers are a critical stakeholder in the entire process and their voice must be heard.”
“As far as I’m concerned, every day is waste pickers day because waster pickers are an essential group in the society, they are working on a daily basis, March 1 is just a day the global community earmarked for waste pickers’ role in the society to be recognised.
Waste pickers are very important in the entire value chain of plastic waste management because for you to aggregate any waste, the waste must come from source to get to any point of aggregation or any collection point and these men and women are the grassroots collectors that helps aggregate those wastes.
“As we are moving into circular economy where you want to keep turning around from waste to wealth and all that concept, so you need people at the grassroots who can help manage those waste.
“SRADev Nigeria has a programme called Zero Waste Initiatives which is the reduction of waste at source before the waste becomes voluminous and the waste pickers are playing a big role in waste reduction at source, we see that their work is very valuable to what we do and that is why we are always partnering with them,” he stated.
On the recent ban on Styrofoam, Dr. Adogame whose organisation has always been the main campaigner for zero waste and proper plastic waste management in Nigeria, said: “I want to use this opportunity to thank the Lagos State Government who is now working the talk on the ban of single use plastic because we cannot continue to live with it in the society considering the amount of single use plastics being churned out on daily so the government has thought about Styrofoam being banned instantly. We have also talked to the government that other single use plastics have to go but it has to be given time, there has to be an action plan on how it would be phased out because single use plastic does not have economic value.
“So, awareness will start, investment in those areas will begin to reduce because producers and manufacturers of these items now know that, in two to three years’ time, the use of single use plastics will be banned so they are not going to over invest in this sector. The regulation is going to be gazetted soon and there are one to three years phase-out period within which single use plastic will be banned but it has to be given a human face, but I can assure you that, in time to come, single use plastics will be a thing of the past in Nigeria.”
In his remarks, Comrade Friday Oku, President of ASWOL, noted that waste pickers play an essential role in the waste management system because they are individuals who collect and segregate recyclable materials from wastes to earn a livelihood. He added that their work is crucial for recycling and environmental sustainability.
Comrade Oku listed some of the issues faced by waster pickers to include health hazards, lack of education and skill development, limited access to loans as well as grants and healthcare, lack of social protection and security, and environmental dangers, among others.
He said: “The problems faced by waste pickers are multifaceted and require urgent attention. It is essential to recognise their contribution to society and environment and improve their working conditions through ‘Just Transitions’ by integrating them into the waste management value chain, providing education and skills development training programmes, access to loans, grants and healthcare facilities.
“This can uplift their lives and break the cycle of poverty by creating awareness about waste management and recycling in circular economy among the public which can lead to a more inclusive sustainable and supportive environment for waste pickers stigmatisation.”
Deji Akinpelu, Co-founder, while corroborating ASWOL President’s position, posited that “the challenges has been the fact that by our own ways we decided to demonise the informal waster pickers and see them as people who don’t fit into our system which is totally wrong because informal waste picking has been in existence for a very long time. Even if you want to bring in other formal players into the system, it is disservice to us when you want to remove the informal waster pickers just like that.
“There is a process you can set in place to begin to semi-formalise them, such a way that their work become operational because this group of people are very large, and they fill the gap that your formal waste picking structure cannot fulfil.
“The PSP in a city like Lagos cannot go everywhere, so we should stop demonising the informal waster pickers whose source of income and livelihood needs to be protected same way you are saying you want to protect the environment by the Sustainable Development Goals, the same way the SDG speaks about ending poverty. So, if you take these people out of where they work, you are creating poverty in the society.”
The 2024 International Waster Pickers Day with the theme: “Zero Waste Sensitisation Campaign and Awareness on How to Separate Wastes from Source”, was organised by Association of Scraps and Waste Pickers of Lagos (ASWOL) in conjunction with organisations such as Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), SRADev Nigeria, International Alliance of Waste Pickers, and The Food and Beverages Recycling Alliance (FBRA), among others.
By Ajibola Adedoye
