National Wire About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories
Tayo Olanipekun
Nigerians have been reminded that proper disposal of recyclable waste such as plastics, glass, cans will not only protect the future of their children but can also give them additional income in the immediate.
This was highlighted on Saturday during the events to commemorate Earth Day 2018 at the Lekki Urban Forest and Animal Sanctuary Initiative (LUFASI).
British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Laure Beaufils, said like her native United Kingdom, Nigeria also has and celebrates wonderful coastlines but unfortunately, humans are now clogging the ocean with plastics which can take hundreds of years to dissolve.
“Our environment, our health and ability to earn a living are affected by this practice. We can actually recycle to make some financial gains. It is now a win-win situation,” said the Deputy High Commissioner.
Beaufils said her office in Nigeria is actively involved in recycling.
She said the British government just announced a sum of £62m to work with her Commonwealth partners on the issue of environment and urged Nigerians to also task governments on commitment to the environment.
LUFASI Chairman, Desmond Majekodunmi, said Nigerians use too much plastic products. Plastic, he also noted, is one of the problems that have happened to the environment, which is why Earth Day celebration this year is focused on plastic.
Showing the audience a plastic spoon he said was bitten in half by a fish, Majekodunmi said plastic is one of the reasons fishers no longer have enough catch.
“Plastic is killing the fishes and it is killing the ocean and that is why we have to clean the oceans by not throwing plastics away but make money from them through recycling,” said the renowned environmentalist.
CEO of Recycle Point, Mazi Alison Ukonu, at the event, told the residents of Majek area of Ibeju-Lekki Local Government that his company is now ready to pick their plastic and other waste materials for recycling and at the same time pay them with cash or gift items based on the points they earn over time.
Ukonu said: “We will have a recycle point here at LUFASI for people to bring their plastic bottles, pure water nylons, cans and glass and they will be able to get cash or items in turn based on the points they earn and registration is free.”
He said the popular sportswear designer, Nike, in 2010 made a unit of its expensive jerseys out of seven plastic bottles, stressing that recycling can help the environment and boost economic activities through the setting of cottage companies that process recyclable items.
A kilogram of plastic bottles fetches a person about N30,he said, adding that people should know the value of what they throw away and the harm it causes in the ocean and the environment.
The event commenced with residents of the host community joining other environmentalists to pick plastic bottles and other waste items from about three kilometers of the Majek community along the Lekki-Epe Expressway.
PHOTO:-(L-R) CEO, Recycle Point, Mazi Alison Ukonu (spotting green shirt behind signpost); British Deputy High Commissioner,Laure Beaufils; Chairman,LUFASI,Desmond Majekodunm, with community residents and environmentalists during the Earth Day Celebration at LUFASI…Saturday
