By Our Correspondent in Lagos
The management of African Clean-Up Initiative (ACI),an NGO,said that more than 500 people from four communities in Lagos State benefited from the picking of pet bottles under the Double Double Initiative in the last six months.
Mr Alexander Akhigbe,the Chief Environmental Officer,ACI,stated on weekend while speaking with journalists in Lagos.
Akhigbe, who spoke on the sideline of the Double Double Recycling Initiative at Ilupeju/Mushin in Lagos, recalled that the programme kicked-off in Ajegunle on Feb. 7.
He said the journey had so far carried the NGO to Alagbado and Ijora-Oloye, adding that the idea was aimed at supporting the less-privileged as well as making the environment cleaner and healthier.
Akhigbe said that the programme’s COVID-19 support project, powered by the ACI and sponsored by the Coca-Cola Foundation, was meant “to relieve people from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.’’
He explained that the pet bottle pickers earned double of the money usually paid per kilogramme under the initiative, adding that though the price per kilogramme was N20, bottle pickers under the COVID-19 programme got N40 per kilogramme.
He said the goal was to encourage such pickers to be able to earn a living from the picking and selling of pet bottles to the recyclers.
“We have a partnership with the Recyclers Association of Nigeria which gives us access to recyclers in different locations in Lagos and we also have a relationship with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA)”,he said.
He said the NGO had received official certification, from LAWMA and maintained good relationship with the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment.
The Chief Environmental Officer, therefore, urged Lagos residents to turn a new leaf and patronize the ACI and other recyclers, to stem the indiscriminate disposal of pet bottles in the streets and drains, especially in the state capital.
A recycler, Mr Irebami Taiwo, in his comment, advised his fellow residents to imbibe the culture of sorting their waste products to pick out those that could be recycled.
Contributing, a volunteer, Mr Lanre Usanga also called on Nigerians to imbibe the AIC initiative as part of the collective responsibility to enhance `neighborhood cleanliness.’
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