Visionscape, environmentalists tour first engineered sanitary landfill in Nigeria

In commemoration of this year’s World Forest Day, the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) has concluded a comprehensive tour of the engineered sanitary landfill located in Epe under construction by Visionscape Sanitation.

Visionscape Sanitation, the residential waste collection concessionaires in Lagos State, had won the tender process in August 2016, and as part of the agreement, commenced construction of the landfill last year, amongst other infrastructural projects and reforms in the state.

The tour, undertaken in collaboration with key environmentalists, environmental advocacy groups, waste management companies, non-governmental organisations and representatives from government institutions in the state, such as KidsBeachGarden, 123Recycle, RecyclePoints, E-Terra and others, was to give the public an insight into the workings of an engineered sanitary landfill and the process of waste management within a controlled environment.

The tour was coordinated by Sumeet Singh, Landfill Operations Manager, who revealled that over 350 scavengers had been registered and inducted into Visionscape’s processes.

It takes an average of 18 to 24 months to construct an engineered sanitary landfill and Visionscape kick-started operations at the landfill in January this year.

The landfill, the first in Nigeria, is expected to serve as an Ecopark, where waste-to-energy plans, wastewater treatment, material recycling and other vital environmental friendly procedures are carried out daily.

Meanwhile, following the recent fire outbreak in Olusosun dumpsite and the need to salvage the health of Lagosians, the state government has ordered the closure of Vesa Fisheries, situated on Kudirat Abiola Way, Ojota, for illegal dumping of refuse and inflammable materials at the dumpsite.

Commissioner for the Environment, Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, who announced the decision shortly after meeting with the Assistant Operations Manager of Vesa Fisheries, Azees Kelani, and representative of the company, Osaro Eguamwense, in the Conference Room of the Ministry, stressed that the decision became necessary to forestall further incidents at the dumpsite.

Durosinmi-Etti stated the materials were capable of aggravating the situation at the dumpsite, adding: “It is obvious that the quantity and components of wastes the company generates have been under-declared, because it deemed it convenient to covertly dump at the dumpsite.”

He said that the law would be allowed to take its course on the matter.