Expert Tasks Stakeholders On Collective Waste Management

An ecologist, Mr Habib Omotosho, has urged stakeholders to engage in collective waste management so as to promote healthy, dirt-free surroundings in their neighbourhoods.
Omotosho, the National Coordinator, Environmental Advancement Initiative, an NGO, gave the advice in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.
“It is important to understand that as we all produce waste; we all have to take responsibility for its management.
“Waste management is not just the responsibility of someone who moves it around for us or who disposes of it for us.
“For example, wherever construction works are taking place, the waste producer is the person actually doing the work that produces the waste, not the person who issued the contract or gave instructions for the work to be carried out,” he said.
Omotosho said that in accordance with the Waste Act, all stakeholders, including private individuals, property owners or companies, were primarily responsible for the management of waste.
“An exception to this rule is the responsibilities which municipalities and certain manufacturers may have for organising waste management.
“The municipalities must organise the recovery and treatment of hazardous agricultural waste and domestic waste.
“In addition to this, municipalities are responsible for the urban waste produced by public administration, services and the education sector,” he said.
Omotosho added that municipalities also disseminated information and offered guidance on waste management.
He urged waste management agencies to adopt the most economically viable technologies for waste management, while applying the best practices so as to prevent harmful 27 environmental or health consequences.