Visionscape to employ scavengers at Epe Landfill

VIisionscape Sanitations Solution has disclosed that it will employ the adult scavengers at the Epe landfill, in a bid to boost the social impact of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative.

The environmental utility company also said it would train the under-aged among the scavengers so they could be reintegrated in the future. Currently, there are over 200 scavengers at the Epe Landfill, the first engineered landfill in West Africa.

This was disclosed to journalists by Chief Operations Officer of Visionscape, Thomas Forgacs, at a recent lunch organised by the VSS for journalists, PSP operators and other stakeholders in the waste management value chain.

The lunch immediately followed the tour of the Epe landfill by the stakeholders.

Forgacs said that there were previously 500 scavengers on the site but the number had dwindled to 200. He said they had been categorised into two, those who fell within the 18 to 50-year category and those who were less than 18 years.

Forgacs said the landfill, would be completed between 12 and 18 months.

Also speaking at the event was the Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti who said that the landfill being built in Epe was in steady progress.

He said that the landfill, being a critical aspect of the waste management value chain, was accorded the deserved priority by the Lagos State Government as it had concessioned the 880,000-square metre landfill to deliver the construction of weighing areas and road ways, leachate collection ponds and sediment pond as well as material recovery facilities, among others.

According to him, the facility would ensure the protection of public health and the local environment as well as the global environment, while providing an efficient and effective final disposal option for waste generated in the State.

Durosinmi-Etti stated that the landfill was a part of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) aimed at revitalising the entire Solid Waste Management sector to have far-reaching benefits and multiplier effects for the State.

He said that the state government was committed to providing a sustainable and functional environment that would ensure development and prosperity.

At the landfill, the visitors were ushered into the control room where the applications used to manage the waste were placed.

Visionscape staff explained the process and plans by the company to ensure an integrated waste management to the visitors.