Dr. Bakare Oluwafemi, the President of the Lagos Recyclers Association, has called on the Lagos State Government and policymakers to do more to teach people about the dangers of plastic pollution in the environment.
He made this statement during an online discussion called “Unequivocal With Obuesi Phillips,” which focused on the problems caused by plastic waste in Nigeria.
The event was led by Obuesi Phillips, who is the CEO of Urban Waste Dynamic Limited.
Dr. Bakare, who also leads Ecoflow Nigeria Limited, said that for Lagos State’s plastic ban to work well, the public needs to be better informed about how to manage plastic waste.
He explained, “It’s a tricky issue. As someone who cares about the environment, I want to say the government is trying. But the way they are putting the ban into action and how they are informing the public could be improved. We need to work together to do a better job of educating people.”
He added that the plastic ban has been talked about for over a year, but there hasn’t been much progress. Many plastic items made by producers are not being collected and reused properly.
He pointed out that some plastics end up in places that are hard to reach, so they remain in the environment instead of being recycled.
Dr. Bakare explained that the main reasons why many plastics aren’t recycled are: their low value, the difficulty in collecting them, and the lack of proper education on recycling.
He said that people who collect plastic for money should be taught not to ignore dirty or less attractive plastic, because they still have value.
“We teach people that even if a plastic bottle is not perfectly clean, it still has value,” he said. “That’s something we all need to understand and work on.”
He also mentioned that recycling is not the only solution—some plastics can be “upcycled,” which means turning them into something useful with added value.
Finally, he said the government has made the policy and started enforcing it, but what’s missing is proper communication and involvement with both the people using plastics and the companies making them.
