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      YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD AND YOU: A program sponsored by sustainable design consult dedicated to enlighten listeners to know about the environment, The rights of a citizen living in an environment, environmental hazards and things needed to be done to prevent environmental hazards from happening.
On a new episode of the program, The host Comfort Omolafe will be putting questions to the sponsor of the programme TPL Ogunseyi Ayodele Joseph on challenges of waste management in Ondo state.
     What are the problem of waste collection in Ondo state?
TPL Ogunseyi Ayodele said the challenge is a practical problem. Critically speaking, the first problem comes from everybody, the way people package their wastes can be a problem. People do not segregate i.e they do not separate plastic wastes from food wastes, people mix wastes food waste, plastic waste and metal wastes that they can easily sell out to scavengers together.
Another problem is collection of wastes. These problem comes from the government i.e those in charge of waste collection. Those in charge of the waste collection do not come for the waste when due, this can make the environment filled with more wastes and an environment filled up with wastes will only bring more harm than good to the people.
He said, If there are not enough dumpsites i.e where the waste collecters can store or dump the wastes collected, it can certainly be a problem. When there are enough dumpsite, the waste collectors won’t have to stay some days before the waste could be dumped. The guest used his neighborhood as an example, He said waste management people haven’t visited them for awhile to pack their wastes and this brings about bad odor that can cause environmental pollution and if the problem continue to persist, it can cause epidermic disease.
 What are the measures put in place to dispose the waste properly ever since the waste management people refuse to come?
TPL Ogunseyi Ayodele said he personally cannot pick waste and dump it anywhere, that he do separate food wastes from plastic and metal wastes and leaves the rest for the waste management people to manage it. He said in his estate, there is an association that pays the agents that comes for the wastes. He stated that if there are over 300 buildings in the estate and people are finding it difficult to get rid of their wastes, Some individuals might decide to dump the waste inside water channel which is absolutely wrong. The loads on people and waste collectors will reduce If people cultivate the habit of separating plastic wastes from metal wastes.
Do we lack technical know how in Ondo state?
The guest said Ondo state do not lack technical know how. The problem is how to annex the policy with the manpower around, how to coordinate within the agency and the stakeholders, lack of power to educate the people on how to separate or manage their wastes before the waste management agency come. He said if people can use the energy politicians uses whenever they campaign to educate themselves on how to manage their wastes then the problem is as good as solved.
Do you think ministry of environment, ministry of urban physical planning are not doing enough to sensitize the people?
TPL Ogunseyi Ayodele said whenever questions of collection of waste is thrown to the ministry of environment, Ondo state environmental protection agency, they all say it is not their area of jurisdiction and shift the blame on waste management authority and when waste management authority were asked the same question, they will say they do not have enough agents. The agencies and ministries kept on shifting blames on one another, So government should at least find a way for the agencies to work hand in hand.
Can’t the ministries (Waste management authority, Ministry of environment, Ondo state environment protection agency, ministry of urban physical and planning development) find solution to the problems of waste collection?
TPL Ogunseyi Ayodele said waste management is the only authority in charge of waste collection of which they give different reasons for not coming to pick the wastes and this case is common during rainy season. He said the ministries must work together to find ways of solving the problem of waste collection and if they can work together, it will prevent health issues which might consume more money from the government. The said ministries are custodians of the environment and there will be more benefit than harm if they can work together.
What can be done differently to solve the problem of waste collection permanently?
The guest said there are different solutions for solving the collection of wastes. Segregation of wastes, collection of wastes and government making provision of more dumpsites are some ways of solving waste collection. Organised labor too can decide to have their pickup van if the waste management authority are giving excuses of shortage of personnel but the problem the organised labor might face is what the waste management people will say to them concerning owning pickup vans, The waste management people will say there must be at least 800 buildings for the people to have a pmc agent. Another problem the organised labor can face is the available dumpsite to dump the packed wastes.The question one will ask himself is, will the pickup van agent stay in the dumpsite for days before the waste can be dumped? Won’t the odor coming from the dumpsite affect the pickup van agent? The pickup van person naturally may not be able to stay put or stay for that long to dump the wastes in the dumpsite because of the odor, he may even not show up to pick wastes from the neighborhood again. For example, the dumpsite in Imafon is not well taken care of, not well organised, People passing will have to cover their nose and mouth because of the smell they are going to perceive. Every neighborhood that can afford a pickup van should go ahead with it, The landlord association or whatever association governing the neighborhood must educate their people on how to separate their wastes, they are to enlighten them on how to separate wastes that can give them money from the wastes that can be dumped in the dumpsites. For instance one can sell metal or iron wastes to scavengers and doing this will reduce the wastes around us.
The first step in solving the problem is that people should start separating their wastes, The second solution is every neighborhood that can afford a pickup van should have one, and the government must provide more dumpsites areas.
What should be done to the ministries shifting blame on one another?
TPL Ogunseyi Ayodele said government should allow every neighborhood to have their pickup vans, Government must also provide more dumpsite areas.
Lagos for instance has six dumpsites, they partnered with a company that help them manage the wastes, the company make use of people for the separation of wastes like plastics, metals, cartons, cans and others. The company has an agreement with some recycling companies and this recycling companie’s comes for the bottles, scale the bottles and go with the bottles, so by doing this there will be less or no bottles in the dumpsites, the wastes in the dumpsites will reduce. The government also benefited in two ways, by reducing waste in the environment and also getting money from the company that manage the dumpsites annually. So if Ondo state government can use these method, the issue of waste collection will end.