Lagos — AS part of efforts to effectively handle solid waste management in Lagos State, Governor Babatunde Fashola recently unveiled the first of the three awarded Transfer Loading Stations, (TLS) at Simpson, on Lagos Island.

The Simpson TLS has an installed capacity of 1,000 metric tonnes; that is, 90 tonnes per hour of waste generated daily in the metropolis and to be operated between the hours of 6 am to 6pm.

The TLS is expected to accommodate refuse collected during the day from 10 local council areas in the Lagos Island axis, from where they are compacted to small volumes and moved with fewer vehicles at night when there will be lesser traffic, to the various dump sites.

Gov. Fashola while speaking at the commissioning of the station, conceived by the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), said it has the capacity to store and treat 600 metric tonnes (20 trailer loads) of waste daily at a full capacity of 1, 000 metric tones (33 trailer loads).

The other two sites at Oshodi and Ogombo in parts of the state, the Governor promised would be ready before the end of the year, 2009.

Governor Fashola also used the opportunity to urge residents to desist from patronising the already banned cart pushers, saying that with the unveiling of TLS, the activities of these illegal waste collectors were gradually coming to an end.

He said that the activities of cart pushers had always compounded the process of refuse collection as they collect waste from one area and dump same in illegal spots.

With the formal inauguration of the Simpson TLS, the Governor gave the directive for the immediate commencement of civil works at the Marini, Oshodi and Ogombo TLS.

His words: "The new TLS is equipped with static hydraulic compactor (block-PAK 3000) which densifies the waste into log for onward transfer to the final deposit site. It is also equipped with nine trailer hoists, 18 trailer trucks, six static compactor bins for collection of waste within the business district of the metropolis.

"I have directed that after this commissioning of the Simpson, civil works should commence immediately at Marini, Oshodi after which Ogombo TLS would be built.

"This facility has no place for cart pushers. It was designed for the type of waste collection trucks used by PSP operators that operate in modern cities.

"Our solution to improve the Turn Around Time (TAT) of trucks trips was to build TLS where the refuse could be dumped during the day, compacted to small volumes and then moved at night with fewer vehicles when the traffic has eased off".

Earlier in his remarks, the state Commissioner for the Environment, Dr. Muiz Banire, said the TLS would make the collection and disposal of waste within reasonable time a reality.

Banire disclosed that the state requires 24 TLS in order to effectively manage waste. While thanking the government for funding the construction of three, he expressed optimism that others would be built shortly.

He also stressed that while government would continuously seek ways of ensuring cleaner and better environment; there was the need for attitudinal change by the populace from the gross abuse of the environment to behaviours capable of sustaining the environment for a healthy living.

Also, the Managing Director of LAWMA, Mr. Ola Oresanya, earlier in his address disclosed that the station, which is a potential National Waste Management Resource Centre, a training school of solid waste management to other states and beyond, was built through direct labour.

According to him, the station would be of direct and indirect benefit of optimised resources to all the waste collectors in the 10 local council areas that would be serviced by the TLS.

Oresanya explained that the International Waste Management Association recommended that the turnaround time for municipal solid waste collection truck ought to take an average of one hour for 18 kilometers, but unfortunately the case of Lagos had been three hours for the same distance.

He noted that such situation had accounted for the low efficiency experienced even with high operational costs, adding that the TLS is built to address all the identified shortfalls in waste management.

"With evident improvement in the fleet capacity of refuse collection trucks in Lagos (from 60 in 2005 to 610 in 2009) the need for TLS becomes imperative to optimise the benefits of the earlier investments," he said.

The ceremony was attended by prominent personalities including the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, Ambassador Segun Olusola, top government officials, representatives of private sector participants, among others.