Lafarge Africa continues to take important steps towards a cleaner, extra sustainable future, collaborating with various stakeholders to realize significant and lasting impression. The corporate has through the years leveraged the experience, assets, and networks of assorted organisations, together with authorities our bodies, non-profit organisations, analysis establishments, native communities, and trade associations. A collective method that permits for a complete understanding of the challenges confronted and facilitates the event and implementation of progressive options.
Not too long ago, Lafarge Africa signed a Memorandum of Understanding on stable waste administration with the Lagos State Authorities via the Lagos State Ministry of the Atmosphere and Water Sources for the gathering of non-recyclable flamable waste across the state and landfill websites. A partnership the Managing Director of Lafarge Africa Plc, Lolu Alade-Akinyemi, described as a novel alternative that “will strengthen the agency’s management in sustainable development and local weather motion and permit each events to make significant contributions to sustainable waste administration in Nigeria”.
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In line with a 2024 report by Punch Newspaper, Lagos produces roughly 13,000 – 15,000 metric tonnes of stable waste, equal to roughly 490 trailers per day, a activity that the Lagos Waste Administration Authority (LAWMA), the company saddled with the gathering and disposal of municipal and industrial waste within the state, has managed successfully. Though casual settlements and poor waste disposal practices proceed to exacerbate the problems. This makes the intervention of Lafarge Africa well timed and pivotal, a view buttressed by the Lagos State Commissioner for Atmosphere and Water Sources, Tokunbo Wahab, who highlighted the event as a landmark milestone that “will allow Lafarge Africa to help the state’s imaginative and prescient of a cleaner Lagos consistent with the Lagos Waste Administration Authority’s formidable zero waste to landfill goal.”
Lafarge Africa has been on the forefront of sustainability in its operations, a feat that has positioned the progressive cement firm as a pacesetter in sustainable options. It continues to hunt out alternatives for collaboration throughout sectors, each private and non-private, with the intention to push innovation and diminish destructive impacts ensuing from its operations whereas shaping a greener future. From launching Nigeria’s first inexperienced depot and electrical truck fleet to launching progressive merchandise just like the Eco Label cement model, providing high-performance, sustainable, and round development supplies for patrons, thereby enabling them to contribute to the nation’s carbon discount objectives, the corporate continues to exhibit its dedication to lowering emissions and constructing a greener future.
“It continues to hunt out alternatives for collaboration throughout sectors, each private and non-private, with the intention to push innovation and diminish destructive impacts ensuing from its operations whereas shaping a greener future.”
The corporate has been in a position to thrive on its sustainability journey, because of its waste administration arm, Geocycle, Nigeria’s first full-fledged skilled waste administration service supplier. Geocycle handles waste from quite a lot of waste-generation sectors, together with manufacturing, FMCG, and manufacturing, in a protected, sustainable, and environmentally pleasant method. Via this, Geocycle is working in the direction of attaining ‘A Zero-Waste Future’ and the worldwide aim of “Zero Waste to Landfill” and Waste-to-Vitality (WtE) as the corporate collects waste and converts it to the vitality required to fireplace the kiln for cement manufacturing. So, it was no shock in the course of the signing of the MOU that Alade-Akinyemi, explaining that Lafarge intends to gather non-recyclable and flamable waste and divert it to the Ewekoro Plant as various gas for manufacturing, confidently stated, “All of those shall be powered by Geocycle, our waste administration arm.”
The extension of the corporate’s sustainable experience to Lagos affirms its profitable deployment of waste-to-energy options globally, which is inherent in its operations and embedded in its DNA. As a pacesetter in constructing options and a accountable company citizen, the corporate recognises that managing waste successfully is vital to environmental stewardship, neighborhood well-being, and long-term financial growth. The initiative poses a broader environmental impression past the speedy benefits to Lafarge Africa and Lagos State as a result of the waste sourced via the partnership shall be utilised instead gas within the firm’s cement kilns, changing fossil fuels and lowering carbon footprint, which ends up in an enormous contribution to Nigeria’s decarbonisation journey.
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Via the years, Lafarge Africa has partnered with varied organisations throughout completely different sectors, thereby strengthening its management in sustainable development and local weather motion. One in every of these is with Nestlé Nigeria Plc, to cut back emissions by 2030 and in the end attain net-zero by 2050. One other is within the oil and fuel trade, a collaboration with Chevron Nigeria to handle city waste administration challenges with the inauguration of a brand new Different Gas and Uncooked Materials (AFR) platform at its Mfamosing plant in Cross River State. The successes recorded in these varied partnerships have been exceptional; therefore, the arrogance that the brand new enterprise with the Lagos State Authorities will convey a couple of optimistic turnaround, as expressed by the Managing Director of LAWMA, Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin: “With this collaboration, we’re setting a brand new precedent on how municipal stable waste is processed and repurposed.”
Olamide Popoola, a waste-to-wealth campaigner, writes from Lagos.
