WASTE TO WEALTH BUSINESS Take a step today and do something | Page 3

By: Micheal B. A. WASTE TO WEALTH BUSINESS GUIDE INTRODUCTION For the first time in history over half the world’s population lives in urban areas. The trend of urbanisation is expected to increase markedly, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where the urban population is forecast to double between 2000 and 2030. Of this urban population, over 70% live in slum conditions with the associated problems of underemployment, low household income and widespread poverty. The growth in population is placing increased demand on the urban environment; there is the same amount of land but more people; the same number of toilets but more human waste; more rubbish and even less space to dispose of it. Widespread poor solid waste management creates associated health problems and poses a threat to surface and groundwater quality. The onus for managing the physical environment in poor areas remains with the communities themselves: if they don’t address the problems of household waste, poor public sanitation, clogged and disease-spreading drainage, no-one will do it for them. The business is creating a virtuous circle wherein slum dwellers in nine urban areas in the cities of Nigeria, take responsibility for collecting and managing household solid waste, instead of sending this off to landfills. Social ventures and micro-enterprises are currently overseeing the process of sorting waste, recycling and reuse. The concept of Waste-to-Wealth literally means moving waste from a platform of exhausted utility to valuable and desirable level. Its ransformation: in engineering, requires some form of energy, and in economics requires factor of production. The latent issue here is that “waste” in itself can never be wealth otherwise generator will never discard it. Likewise, wealth is created and process of creating wealth has some cost implications that the market forces construe as the price. This means that not all wastes are potentially of secondary benefit. In all, the slogan “waste-to-wealth connotes that waste management operations must transcend delivery of service to provision of goods or value like energy. The aim of this work is to examine the operation of waste markets in the State, identify the challenges facing its operation, and create awareness on the need to explore opportunities inherent in waste market for environmental and economic benefits. Hotlines: 08030733611, 09090040011. 3. E-mail: [email protected]