Lagos State Government has assured residents that the Olusosun and Soluos 2 and 3 landfill sites will be decommissioned within 18 months.

Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, disclosed this during an inspection of the landfill sites at the weekend.

He said that the timeline was to allow the state government to open new plants around Badagry, Ikorodu, and Epe, which will serve as alternatives before the decommissioning.

Wahab noted that once their partner for the waste-to-wealth project starts the material recovery facility in the Olusosun landfill, they would start the process of decommissioning the place and capping it the way it’s done globally.

“But we don’t just decommission. We must provide the alternative for them to take whatever is left from the treated, sorted resource to go and drop,” he said.

The commissioner said that the state was planning to move from a linear waste management system to a proper waste management system.

“We are moving from a linear waste management system to a proper waste management system that is environmentally friendly and sustainable, in a way that waste is now seen as a resource.

“The quantum and the quantity of waste that will end up in the landfills will be to the barest minimum.

“We are going to recycle some and turn some into compost fertilisers. Then, whatever is left, Lafayette will take its own combustible waste. The harvesters will take theirs to turn into energy.

“Whatever is left will be so minimal which then we can take it to the landfill,” he said.