By Kingsley Adegboye

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Lagos State Waste Management Authority LAWMA, Mr. Ola Oresanya has explained why the agency has decided to involve children in its waste management efforts.

He said the idea is to inculcate the values of waste recycling into children so that when they become adults, it will become part and parcel of them.

He added that “it is about how children can appreciate value chain in waste management. It is to let children have the perception about recycling processes so that they will know that what we actually call waste is not waste, but a resource.

Oresanya’s clarification last week at LAWMA’s Open Day at its Ijora head office was a response to the criticism that trailed ‘waste for food’ programme for children which LAWMA recently launched. The critics had noted that the programme was a form of child abuse as it exposed children to dangers through scavenging.

But in his response, LAWMA boss said the criticism was a statement of deprived minds, and expression of level of ignorance, pointing out that when ‘you have half knowledge about something, it is usually good to research more and have an understanding of an issue before we talk about it. I have listened and read about those who criticise our waste for food programme, and it just tells me that we need to let people know more about it.

“The key issue here is not about scavenging, it is about inculcating the values of recycling to our children. It is about how children can appreciate value chain in waste management. It is to let children have the perception about recycling processes so that they will know that what we actually call waste is not waste, but a resource.

Waste for food is not scavenging because I don’t think anyone has actually seen any child around dump site picking waste materials. Scavenging is abnormal, it is not authorised, and no sane person will encourage children to go into scavenging.

‘But at your door step, we need to give value to waste, we need to separate waste. We have a recycling club, and people subscribe to this club. When you subscribe to the recycling club, we collect your waste from your house at a discount rate. Many people have been subscribing to it, and they are reaping the benefit.

While non-subscribers pay about N1000 per month for carting away their waste, subscribers pay just N500 per month. That is giving value because you are able to add value to that waste.

‘We also have a buy-back product for adults who don’t have work to do. We allow them to go out there and salvage what other people discarding because there are a lot of industries waiting to use those waste  materials, and we pay them for those waste they bring from households and door steps. Most of you have seen it running, and a lot of people are making big money from it.

We believe that the three months vacation for school children is too long to keep them idle. So, the programme is a way of engaging children during the holidays within their households. They can tell their fathers that the old newspapers in their homes can be exchanged for a pack of food at any of our designated eateries instead of throwing them away or burning them. They can tell their fathers or mothers  that the plastic bottles littering in their homes and begging for space can be converted to money by sorting  and taking them to any of locations for money.

‘The children are now aware that those waste materials if taken to LAWMA can fetch them a voucher that can give a pack of food at any of our partner eateries worth N500  from those old newspapers or nylons or plastic bottles their parents would have thrown away or burnt as waste. The programme is a way of developing value chain in waste management in children’, Oresanya explained.

LAWMA boss who also explained about the Open Day, said the day is not just for children alone, but for the general public and everybody who is interested in knowing waste management processes.

He added that often times, people don’t know about the processes involved in what LAWMA does. So, the Open Day  is just a date for people to get familiarized with our process, what we do and how we got to where we are’, he said.