The Lagos State Government, through the Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), otherwise known as KAI, has carried out enforcement operations against the use of single-use plastics (SUP) in the Agege, Oshodi, Idumota, Mushin, Victoria Island, and Lekki market areas of the state.
LAGESC in the operations recorded a joint seizure of N2.5 million worth of Styrofoam food packs and single-use plastics during enforcement operations in the Lagos markets and shopping malls in the past week.
This disclosure is contained in a statement released by LAGESC, where the agency’s Corps Marshal, Major Olaniyi Olatunbosun Cole (Rtd), said the ban on Styrofoam is already in effect and has also been extended to single-use plastics.
While highlighting the harm caused by single-use plastics, Cole revealed how the Lagos State Ministry of Environment’s decision to announce the ban on July 1 remains in the best interest of the environment.
Traders flouting the order
LAGESC’s Corps Marshal stated the agency had to undertake the enforcement as it was discovered through intelligence reports that some traders in shopping malls and markets were flouting the order.
The statement partly reads, ‘’As part of renewed efforts to rid the metropolis of Styrofoam and Single-Use Plastics (SUPs), the Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), popularly known as KAI, recorded a joint seizure of N2.5M worth of Styrofoam food packs and SUPs during enforcement operations spanning some Lagos markets and shopping malls in the past week.
“We discovered via intelligence reports that there are traders in shopping malls and markets around the State who keep flouting the orders of the State, hence our decision to undertake enforcement operations in the Agege, Oshodi, Idumota, Mushin, Victoria Island and Lekki market areas, which resulted in a seizure of the banned products worth N2.5 million.’’
He also explained how plastic waste constitutes a negative threat to the coastal environment and the dangers it poses to public health in Lagos.
The retired Major stated that other items banned in the single-use category are plastic straws, plastic cutlery, and all single-use carrier bags, nylons that have less than 40-micron thickness, putting to rest the misinformation currently peddled by mischief makers about the ban.
Total compliance
Reiterating the carpet ban on Styrofoam, the Corps Marshal emphasised the need for total compliance with the eradication of Styrofoam food containers and all kinds of polystyrene cups, including disposable cups that possess no recycling value due to their non-biodegradable nature, which poses harm to the environment.
The Corps Marshal, therefore, read the riot act to traders to desist from trading in Styrofoam, SUPs, displaying wares for sale on road setbacks, lay-bys, medians, verges, and gutter slabs, stressing that these activities are illegal under the State’s environmental laws.
Underscoring the need for pedestrians’ safety while crossing highways, the KAI top man advocated for the appropriate use of pedestrian bridges, just as he warned Lagosians to refrain from engaging in open urination, defecation, and indiscriminate dumping of refuse, which blocks the drains and prevents the flow of storm water into the canals.
What you should know
The ban on single-use plastic first commenced in January 2024, when the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources announced a prohibition on the usage and distribution of styrofoam and other single-use plastics.
The state government had, in its clarification, stated that its state-wide ban on Single Use Plastics (SUPs) does not include PET bottles, sachet water, and nylon carrier bags above 40-micron thickness.
