The Community Development Advocacy Foundation (CODAF) has flagged off multipurpose-solving actions for the methane reduction project in the Epe Local Council of Lagos State.
The foundation picked the agrarian community as its model site to pioneer the project aimed at reducing methane emissions through zero waste management practices.
Featuring a Material Recovery Facility (MRF), a purpose-built zero-waste model centre, the project is designed to transform household and community waste into agricultural inputs that will add value to farming and yield high returns.
According to the project managers, this system would address pressing environmental issues, including greenhouse gas emissions.
The Assistant Director of Campaigns at CODAF, Onyeka Titigbe, said the project is a deliberate response to Nigeria’s growing methane emissions from open dumpsites and poor waste disposal practices.
He said: “What we are currently practising across Nigeria is the waste-to-dumpsite model, which is unsustainable.”
Every evening at these sites, you see smoke, suspected to contain methane, a dangerous greenhouse gas, rising into our atmosphere. What we are introducing is a system that treats waste as a resource.”
The Epe MRF, which is designed to process up to 200 tonnes of waste weekly, is structured into three core sections — sorting of textile, metal, plastic, paper, electronic, and hazardous waste; the organic waste conversion that uses Black Soldier Fly (BSF) technology to transform organic waste into eco-friendly compost and animal feed, and Love Net, a breeding ground for BSF reproduction, to boost sustainable manure production for farmers.
Explaining that the project also includes a resource hub to train waste pickers, community members and interested individual on reuse of waste materials in making valuable and marketable products, he said it is part of CODAF’s community-first approach, adding that CODAF will work closely with the Waste Pickers Association to integrate their expertise into the system and pay them for sorted materials.
Interested farmers in Epe, he disclosed would be trained on turning organic waste into organic fertiliser and feed, replacing unsustainable chemical inputs.These trained farmers that would serve as zero waste ambassadors will be used to sensitise other farmers, promote waste sorting and contribute to wider community waste policy development.
At the the event, President of Zero Waste Ambassadors (ZeWA), AkwaIbom, Mr. Faith Paulinus, inaugurated the newly elected officers of Epe Chapter of the association, charging them to advance community-driven waste solutions and discourage harmful practices such as landfilling and incineration.
