An Assistant Director with Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Fatokun Adedayo Olubukola, has said the crude methods of recycling e-waste, which involves shredding, burning, and dismantling of the products mostly in backyard shanties and dumpsites are damaging the environment.
Olubukola in a presentation to mark African Environment Day, recently, said the crude methods handled about 50 to 80 per cent of e-waste and that proper way of recycling, which takes health, safety and the environment into consideration should be adopted.
The presentation tagged ‘Roles and Responsibility of State Government in the Management of E-Waste: Lagos State’s Experience’, describede-waste as old, obsolete, broken or discarded electrical or electronic devices or any appliances using electricity.
According to her, these appliances include computers, mobile phones, TV sets, consumer electronics, cathode ray tubes (CRT), fridges etc which have been disposed of by their original users.
A recent study in Nigeria, according to her has demonstrated high concentration of copper, nickel, zinc and lead in some of the soils far in excess of European Union limits at e-waste dump sites in Lagos, Benin, and Aba cities.
It also showed the contamination of plants and nearby surface waters in e-waste disposal sites by heavy metals.
While noting that there is need to involve investors in e-waste management and recycling, she also called for sensitisation and awareness creation among formal and informal sectors in the country on the need to evacuate e-waste to proper recycling sites for safe disposal.
Olubukolaalso advised that there should be collection and analysis of air, water and land samples to ascertain the level of e-waste pollution in the states, saying “There is a paucity of data on post impact e-waste environmental studies in the African region.”
In proffering solution, she said there is need to harmonise existing environmental protection laws at the states and federal levels, having a tripartite cooperation (producers-public-government) and monitoring and enforcement of existing laws.
“If the electronics sector is supported by right policy mix and managed in the right way, it could lead to the creation of millions of decent jobs worldwide,” she said.
