By: Tijani Salako.
The Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has intensified efforts to tackle recurring waste blackspots across Lagos through a comprehensive strategy that combines waste evacuation, improved collection services, enforcement, infrastructure upgrades and community engagement.
This was made available by the Director of Public Affairs of the agency, Dr. Mukaila Sanusi, who affirmed that the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of LAWMA, Dr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin, said the new approach was designed to provide a lasting solution to the persistent problem of waste reappearing in previously cleared locations.
Gbadegesin explained that the authority had moved beyond repeated evacuation of waste backlogs to addressing the operational and behavioural factors responsible for indiscriminate dumping across the state.
According to him, LAWMA is improving waste collection in communities where service gaps exist, while strengthening enforcement against illegal waste collectors, indiscriminate dumping and other practices that undermine the formal waste management system.
“Our approach is changing from simply clearing waste backlogs to addressing what causes them to return. Where there are service gaps, we are working with stakeholders to improve collection; where there is indiscriminate dumping, we are enforcing compliance; and where locations have been cleared, we are putting measures in place to prevent redumping,” he said.
The LAWMA boss noted that the strategy was already being implemented in Ayobo-Ipaja, where sustained evacuation of accumulated waste has been combined with enforcement against illegal waste operators, defaulting markets and commercial facilities.
He added that in Mushin and Odi-Olowo, LAWMA had begun deploying collection trucks into inner streets after clearing major road medians to improve residents’ access to waste collection services and discourage the return of waste to cleared areas.
Gbadegesin also said recent upgrades at the Olusosun Disposal Facility had strengthened the waste evacuation chain by improving access and truck turnaround time, thereby increasing operational efficiency.
He disclosed that LAWMA was working closely with Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators through ongoing reforms aimed at improving route management, fleet capacity, service delivery, technology-driven monitoring and accountability.
The agency, he said, had also intensified enforcement against illegal waste operators and unauthorised markets, while engaging communities to ensure cleared locations remain clean.
Gbadegesin stressed that behavioural change remained critical to achieving a cleaner Lagos, noting that indiscriminate dumping on roadsides and medians often continued despite the availability of approved waste collection services.
He reaffirmed LAWMA’s commitment to a coordinated, data-driven response to recurrent waste hotspots and urged residents to patronise approved PSP operators, report service gaps and reject indiscriminate dumping, describing a cleaner Lagos as a shared responsibility.
