LAWMA Moves To Stop Wastes From Returning To Cleared Lagos Roads
For residents of parts of Lagos, clearing a mountain of refuse from a road median is often only half the battle.
In some areas, heaps of waste return days or weeks after evacuation, leaving residents, motorists and traders to contend with unpleasant odours, blocked access, environmental hazards and an unsightly environment.
Concerned about this recurring cycle, the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) is changing its approach to waste blackspots by going beyond simply evacuating accumulated refuse.
The Authority is now combining waste evacuation with improved collection services, enforcement, infrastructure upgrades and community engagement aimed at stopping residents and businesses from returning waste to locations that have already been cleared.
The Managing Director/CEO of LAWMA, Dr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin, said the new approach was based on the understanding that repeatedly clearing waste without addressing why it returns would not provide a lasting solution.
He said the focus was now on ensuring that residents and businesses in affected communities had access to proper waste collection services, while those who continued to dump refuse indiscriminately would face enforcement.
“Our approach is changing from simply clearing waste backlogs to addressing what causes them to return. Where there are service gaps, we are working with stakeholders to improve collection; where there is indiscriminate dumping, we are enforcing compliance; and where locations have been cleared, we are putting measures in place to prevent redumping,” Gbadegesin said.
He said the approach was already being implemented in areas such as Ayobo-Ipaja, where LAWMA had combined sustained evacuation of accumulated waste with enforcement against illegal waste collectors and defaulting markets and commercial facilities.
In Mushin and Odi-Olowo, he explained that following the clearance of waste from major road medians, LAWMA was deploying collection trucks into inner streets.
The move, he said, was intended to bring waste collection closer to residents and reduce the temptation to carry household and commercial waste back to cleared road medians.
For residents, such direct access to waste collection services could mean fewer heaps of refuse on roadsides and medians, while also reducing the health and environmental risks associated with prolonged exposure to unattended waste.
Gbadegesin also pointed to the recent upgrade of critical infrastructure at the Olusosun Disposal Facility, saying improved access and faster truck turnaround were helping to increase the Authority’s capacity to evacuate waste across the metropolis.
Beyond evacuation, LAWMA is also working with Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators through a reform process designed to improve route management, service delivery, fleet capacity, technology-driven monitoring and accountability.
The Authority is simultaneously stepping up enforcement against illegal waste operators, unauthorised markets and other activities identified as contributing to indiscriminate dumping.
Gbadegesin, however, said government intervention alone could not keep Lagos clean.
He called on residents, traders, businesses, markets, communities and waste operators to play their part by using approved waste collection services and avoiding unauthorised dumping points.
“A clean city cannot be sustained by government action alone. We need residents, businesses, markets, PSP operators and communities to take responsibility for how waste is generated, handled and disposed of. Clearing a location only for it to become a dumping point again is not sustainable,” he said.
The LAWMA boss said the long-term objective was to move Lagos towards a more sustainable waste management system driven by the circular economy.
He said initiatives such as the development of transfer loading stations and material recovery facilities, alongside the promotion of waste-to-wealth and waste-to-energy, were part of efforts to change the way waste was viewed and managed in the State.
Gbadegesin reaffirmed LAWMA’s commitment to tackling recurrent waste hotspots through a combination of waste evacuation, improved collection, enforcement, infrastructure development and community participation.
He urged residents to patronise approved waste collection operators, report service gaps and desist from indiscriminate dumping.
He stressed that keeping Lagos clean would require more than trucks removing waste from the streets, noting that the real measure of success would be whether cleared locations remained clean.
