Recycling Banks to Reduce Scavenging at Dumps in Lagos, Nigeria

13 January 2011

The boom in scavenging across the four major dump sites of Lagos, Nigeria has opened the government's eyes to the potential of recyclingaccording to a report in the Lagos Daily Independent. Lagos, Nigeria an emerging mega-city generates over 9000 tons of waste per day. Due to this volume, scavenging has been booming as the rag pickers ransack the four major dumpsites across the state to source for used items that could be sold and recycled. They reportedly believe so much believe in the business that they refer to waste trucks as consignments that have brought in goods to be cleared. Having realised the importance of recycling, the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) initiated support for Public/Private Partnership Participation and employment opportunity in resource recovery through the Waste to Wealth programme such as; Nylon Plastic Recycling, Kraft paper collection and buy back programme from scavengers. Today, some of the qualified scavengers are manning recycling banks being sited at various parts of the state as resourced persons just as the state government has adopted the 3 Rs Reuse Recycle & Reduce strategy in waste management. According to the Lagos Daily Independent, at the moment the city recycles 18% of its waste, and is hoping to achieve 35% by 2012. Waste to compost is at 10%, plastic recycling at 7%, and paper bailing 1%. It was also understood that a Waste to Energy project has been billed to commence at Olushosun in 2011. Already, LAWMA has projected a total of 1000 recycling banks to be located in parts of the state within the next 24 months to further boost the programme. Managing Director of LAWMA, Mr. Ola Oresanya said that since the waste agency collection efficiency has reached 80%, it can now focus on recycling, which necessitates the setting up of the recycling banks. A total of nine recycling centres have been established and would also function as information and education centres on waste management. Oresanya is encouraging residents to partner with LAWMA by using the centres to sort their waste, and claims

that in doing so the business of scavenging at the dumpsites would gradually be eliminated, since there would be nothing left for them to sort. Oresanya told the Lagos Daily Independent: "LAWMA in its quest for best practices has closely examined the recycling model as being done in the developed nations and realised that some mechanism must be put in place to drive the recycling process hence the need for waste segregation which is an important component in recycling." "These banks would be of immense benefits to both the communities, Lagos and the nation as a whole as our children would be educated further on waste segregation." Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Muiz Banire also noted that recycling is a key component in modern waste minimization strategy, adopted internationally in materials recovery bid in order to conserve the environment and reduce global warming effects of new products manufacturing. "The era of did the PSP operator come to carry our waste would translates to did you sort the waste and how much will I earn. The recycling bank is compartmentalised and branded for items to be sorted. The recoverable materials form 25% by volume of our daily waste stream. Collecting and stockpiling them for reuse is our corporate responsibility to the environment and ensuring sustainability," he stated.

Nigeria: lead poisoning conference concludes

Date Published: 11/05/2012 05:42 An international conference to find solutions to the Zamfara lead poisoning crisis, of which Mdecins Sans Frontires/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) was the lead organiser, concluded on Thursday, 10th May. The conference delegates endorsed a clear action plan calling for Nigerian government commitment to resolve the crisis. There has been plenty of talk but now is the time for action, said Ivan Gayton, MSF Country Representative in Nigeria. MSF will consider this conference to be a success when all of the poisoned children are living in a safe environment and receiving treatment.

Zamfara crisis
brahim, 10 years old, is responsible for adding crushed stones to the grinding machine at the gold processing site in Bagega, Nigeria. Olga Overbeek

Delegates including Zamfara state ministers, HRH the Emir of Anka, Nigerian government representatives as well as national and international aid workers, scientists, health, environmental and mining experts expressed disappointment that the decision-makers from the Nigerian government, the ministers for Mines, Environment, and Health, were not present, and that no concrete action by the Nigerian federal government was announced. Most urgently, the promised funds of 850 million Naira (3.4 million) for environmental remediation and safer mining that have been languishing for months, while thousands of children continue to suffer from acute lead poisoning, must be released without further delay to the people of Zamfara. The conference agreed an Action Plan to set the path to achieving the three key pillars necessary to solve the Zamfara crisis medical care; environmental remediation and safer mining. To succeed, the Nigerian government in particular the ministries of Mines, Environment, and Health at both federal and state level must commit significant resources and coordination.

Bagega
Release of the promised funds is a key priority of the Action Plan, as is the immediate remediation of the village of Bagega where an estimated 1,500 children have been suffering from lead poisoning since 2010 and continue to wait for their village to be made safe. MSF cannot provide effective treatment in locations such as Bagega, which have not been remediated. MSF treats the sickest children at its inpatient facility in Anka hospital. The people of Bagega are desperate for help, said Zakaria Mwatia, a nurse and project coordinator for MSF in Zamfara. Some of the villagers are attempting to remediate their own compounds in hopes that MSF will be able to provide treatment. To effectively cut the pathways of lead contamination requires specialised expertise and equipment said Simba Tirima, scientist with environmental engineering experts Terragraphics. "The people of Bagega need the urgently required assistance to provide a safe environment for their children.

Nigeria: Floating clinic means a better life on the lagoon

Date Published: 28/03/2011 02:38

This article is taken from Dispatches, MSF UK's supporter newsletter.

How do you improve healthcare when theres no land for a clinic and your patients live on water? In Makoko, a densely packed slum on the outskirts of Lagos, MSF has found the answer Its 6am, the sun is already beating down and a crowd is gathering. There are mothers with children, pregnant women, old men and teenagers. For weeks now, word has been spreading that free medical services will be offered at the new building with the white walls, and nobody wants to miss out. By eight oclock, there are scores of people on the veranda, on the steps and out the front. Queuing here, however, requires more than just patience. Whats also needed is sure footing, a touch of ingenuity and possibly a boat. For this is not just any medical clinic: this is a floating MSF clinic opening in the Makoko lagoon, a densely packed slum that sits on a large body of water on the outskirts of Lagos, Africas fastest-growing city. Here, wooden shacks perch on stilts over the brown water, linked by precarious wooden walkways. Men paddle by in handmade canoes, while children poke their heads out of windows, clamber up poles and shout to each other across the waterways. In a city of 18 million people, the settlement on the lagoon is where some of the 2,000 daily arrivals from rural Nigeria and neighbouring countries end up. And its here, where poverty and overcrowding are commonplace, and where some people have never even set foot on dry land, that MSF has opened its unique floating clinic.

The new floating clinic is on one of the main waterways in the Makoko lagoon. The lagoon has shops, churches and schools but had little in the way of healthcare. Photo by Silvia Fernandez/MSF

It is an exciting challenge running a project in this huge megalopolis, says Daniele Cangemi, MSFs head of mission in Nigeria. Here were surrounded by so many different cultures and ethnic groups and by people who dont have access to free healthcare. The challenge for us was finding a way to work effectively in an environment like this. Finding a way meant first acknowledging that most of these waterdwellers would be unable, realistically, to reach the clinic that MSF operates on land in a nearby slum. Many live so far out on the lagoon that it can take a long time to reach solid ground. Instead of expecting them to go to the clinic, MSF brought the clinic to them. Since opening in January, the floating clinic, which sits on stilts and juts out onto one of the lagoons main waterways, has already become a focal point for the community. This, despite the fact it almost sank the day it opened. We were overwhelmed with patients on the first day, says Pamela Bernard Sawyer, the MSF nurse in charge of the clinic. Before we arrived we thought there would be a few patients and the numbers would grow as the weeks progressed. We were so shocked when we came up the canal on the boat and saw so many people. With two rooms for consultations, a small pharmacy and a veranda, the clinic can only safely hold 40 people and eight staff at a time. At one point there were so many people crowding onto the clinic we were really worried we would collapse into the water, says Pamela. We had to stop everything and ask a group of people to leave and come back later. With the clinic stabilised, the task of treating patients could begin. Many of those living on the Makoko lagoon are immigrants from neighbouring Benin. Every year more people arrive here and they build on the lagoon because it is the only place they can settle, says Pamela. In this area conditions are unsanitary. The river is very polluted. Its contaminated with human waste, animal waste, and every other type of waste. Despite these difficulties, schools, shops, churches and a functioning community have been established. Healthcare, however, is virtually nonexistent. People are coming to us with a whole range of conditions, says Pamela. Infected wounds, malaria, respiratory tract infections, diarrhoea everything. For serious emergency cases, there is a rapid referral service to larger clinics on land. Sorting this out, however, was not straightforward. First of all we had to work out what was the quickest exit off the lagoon, as there arent many and its like a maze out here, adds Pamela. With the rapid exit route established, the team had to establish how they would get patients out. Its just a boat with an engine, but we like to call it our ambulance, she says. Maternal healthcare has been a particular focus for the clinic. Nigeria has one of the worlds highest maternal mortality rates, as even women with difficult pregnancies usually give birth at home due to the high cost or unavailability of medical treatment. Out here on the lagoon, those problems are magnified. I have pregnant women turning up who are eight or even nine months pregnant and they have never had any antenatal care, says Pamela. Many of them have lived on the water their whole life and come to us with urinary tract infections, malaria and other complications. Its great to be able to help them. She laughs. We havent had a birth on the clinic yet. But its coming. I can feel it. Working in such a unique urban environment has thrown up new challenges for MSF. But with the majority of the worlds population now residing in cities, innovative projects like the floating clinic in Lagos are an increasingly important part of MSFs work. For the MSF team, it has meant forging a close relationship with the local community. The first contacts we made on the lagoon were with the traditional leaders, says Manfred Murillo, the field

logistician for the project. It was the community that came up with the workers and it was the construction of the clinic that really helped us enter the community and be accepted. The local crew were experts. They solidly lodged the wooden posts seven feet under ground and stabilised them with cross beams for a foundation. Its a simple structure, but it was amazing to see these guys work so skilfully in such difficult and wet conditions. At the floating clinic, the day is drawing to a close and the team is loading up the boat ready to depart for dry land. A group of boys are kicking a ball to each other as they jump from boat to boat, oblivious of the water beneath them. This unstable, watery world is their natural environment, and they move as if on dry land. When I first came here, I was amazed that anybody could actually live here, says Pamela.But I soon became so impressed with the way people have adapted. I really wanted to work somewhere where there was need, and as soon as I arrived here, I knew that this was the place. These people really need health services and MSF is providing those services. She looks around at the watery surroundings. Im glad were here.

Dispatches is a print publication written by people working for MSF, sent out every three months to our supporters and volunteers in the field, edited in London by Marcus Dunk. It costs 8p per copy to produce and 22.5p to send, using Mailsort Three, the cheapest form of post. We send it to keep you informed about our latest activities and how your money is spent. Dispatches also gives our patients, staff and volunteers a voice to speak out about the conflicts, emergencies, and epidemics in which MSF works and about the plight of those we strive to help.

Case study

Pump testing a new borehole to determine the volume of water that can be pumped on a daily basis

Groundwater pollution due to seepage from mining activities is one of the main environmental challenges facing our Vaal River operations in South Africa. In 1992, the Northern Well Field, a series of shallow boreholes, was constructed to intercept polluted water and prevent it from entering the nearby Vaal River. However, interception by the well field had deteriorated significantly over time and in 2008 a project was launched to increase its effectiveness. The project focused on determining the optimum pump rates through proper pump testing and expanding the existing well field by drilling three additional boreholes. The well fields operating philosophy was also changed. In the past the Northern Well Field operated on a stop-start philosophy. The boreholes were designed to pump a high volume of water until the water level dropped too low, after which the pumps cut out until the water level rose again. This control methodology did not lower the groundwater sufficiently to create an effective barrier for the polluted groundwater. Following the review of the operating methodology of the well field, a decision was taken to pump all of the boreholes continuously thus ensuring that the drawdown cone will create an effective barrier to groundwater seepage. The total volume of water abstracted by the well field has almost doubled since the upgrade, and so has the volume of polluted water recycled for operational purposes. Although the original objective of the Northern Well Field was a water supply scheme and pollution prevention initiative, the environmental benefits have superseded the water supply benefits. The volume of salts released into the Vaal River has reduced significantly as a result of the project approximately 581 tonnes per month are now extracted with the water drawn from the well field. The well field upgrade also supports the recycling of polluted water, enabling a reduction in the drawdown of water from the Vaal River and commensurate savings in water and waste discharge charges. Mining requires huge volumes of water and the abstraction of raw water from the Vaal River is carried out at a cost of R2.23/m3. The annual cost saving for usage of well field water over river water is approximately $600,000 per annum. The Northern Well Field is managed as a pollution control measure by continual abstraction of polluted shallow aquifer water and re-using the water. The water levels and volumes of water abstracted from the well field are closely monitored to ensure constant drawdown of the water levels, thus creating a barrier for the seepage. AngloGold Ashanti will continue to manage the system to ensure effectiveness.

http://www.anglogoldashanti.com/subwebs/InformationForInvestors/Reports10/Sus tainability/vaal-water-recycling.htm

Maria Queen of Cardboard

Friday, 10 February 2012 12:48

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Her territory is a labyrinth of hidden refuse rooms bathed in charcoal light. Masterfully she flattens a mountain of discarded cardboard boxes into an efficient bundle. Later

she will haul her treasure to a buyer a few roads away and earn her income for the day. Maria Vilakazi is a collector of cardboard at the Workshop Shopping Complex in central Durban. Over the eight years that she has worked here, Maria developed relationships with the security guards and workers from the stores. They all love me here says Maria with a little smile and without conceit.This is my job, and I love it. I dont have a boss who tells me what to do or when to take my breaks. In her line of work she is one of the lucky few who has a base. The others must either trawl the inner city and surrounding suburbs or approach local businesses for cardboard. Despite Marias charismatic pitch of her line of work, its long, hard and grim business. After the loss of her husband Maria worked at a cleaning company. Her wage was meagre and she could not support her six children. It was this which spurred her to join the informal cardboard collectors, who after hours of hard work earn between R50 to R100 a day. After a few years of collecting cardboard from neighbouring businesses Maria met Africa Ntuli, who has been taking care of the waste at the Workshop and has been in informal recycling for 25 years. Impressed by Marias commitment and hard work he let her into his domain at the Workshop.

Enter Asiye Etafuleni

We used to be chased by policemen, and we had to hide our trolleys, says Maria.That was before the assistance of Asiye Etafuleni, an NPO who together with Imagine Durban and Sustainable Cities, Canada, have been trying to improve the conditions of informal recyclers. Our long term plan is to change the infrastructure of the city to incorporate the informal recyclers by providing specific collection areas says Tasmi Quazi who facilitates this project. Urban design and planning needs to proactively accommodate informal workers. Asiye Etafuleni focuses on two collection points in Durban, Palmer Street and Pine Street. Cardboard collection by the informal sector is a vital link in the green economy. The recycling evolved naturally from the demand for cardboard from buy back centres and the accessibility to litter from the streets of Durban. Over the past three years Asiye Etafuleni has researched and developed prototypes of trolleys for the recyclers, who circulate them among themselves. They have also been given aprons and gloves and name badges, which Maria dons with pride. Yet what seems to have added the most value to their working lives is the letter which validates them as part of the project. Our focus is to give these formerly marginalised individuals voice, validity and visibility says Tasmi. Sadly, they are often seen as scavengers and as a nuisance by many. Their environmental and social significance, however, is enormous.

Losses made her a natural leader

Meeting Maria is a total eye-opener for me. Despite her 12 hour, seven day week and a host of tragedies including the deaths of five of her six children, in Maria there remains a strength of character and maternal wisdom which makes her a natural leader. Although the recyclers in Palmer Street function individually, they have formed a working committee which has a specific code of conduct. Fighting, drugs and any other criminal behaviour is not tolerated in the group and perpetrators are immediately kicked out. Maria and Afrika were nominated by the others in the working committee to lead the group.

At the recent COP17 events, Maria met with informal recyclers and wastepickers from around the globe. It was a platform where they could share ideas and challenges with each other. I asked Maria what she had learnt from the experience. She had discovered an untapped market in hard plastic recycling and had now recruited her daughter to source and sell this plastic. She added in faultless English, the others learnt from me too. I told them that cleanliness was important. If your work is in the dirt, it doesnt mean you have to be dirty. I always have my bar of soap and I make sure my nails are short. The most important thing I said to the others is that you should always work with a smile. This philosophy has carried Maria through heartbreaking times and a challenging job. By Pralini Naidoo

http://www.thegreentimes.co.za/stories/waste/item/1082-maria-%E2%80%93queen-of-cardboard